Ashenta
by Vivid Imaginest
Summary: The sequal to Death, My Enemy, My Savior. This story focuses totally on Seth and Thal's daughter, Ashenta. I've posted the summary inside because it's too long to fit here! XD
1. Prologue: It's a girl!

**Prologue:** It's A Girl!

**Disclaimer: I don't own World of Warcraft!**

**Summary: **

The sequal to Death, My Enemy, My Savior. This story focuses totally on Seth and Thal's daughter, Ashenta. Thal and Seth's Hyjal home was disturbed with the Shattering and the Twilights Hammer Cultists took Ashenta from them when she was barely a year old. Now, fifteen years later Ashenta is studying to be a sourcer at the Twilight Accademy. The more magic she learns, the more she feels empty and wishes to leave. When her chance finally comes, she takes it and sets off on a journey to find out who she is and more importantly to find her parents.

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It had been five years since the Lich King's death. Those five years had been the most wonderful years of Seth and Thal's life together. The garden Thal had had planted for Seth had grown rapidly over the years. Each year it gave them more fruits and vegetables than they needed to get through winter. Their relationship was stronger than ever and they we're a very blessed couple. Now a days, the couple were extremely busy trying to make the newest addition to the family happy.

Almost a year ago, Seth had given birth to a bouncing baby girl, who they named Ashenta. It was a surprise to them both when they found out because they had assumed they wouldn't be able to have children since Thal was a Death Knight, and they had come to accept that. It came as a big shock at first, but as Seth got bigger and bigger, they both became more excited.

Once the baby was ready to enter the world, Gimbly, Seliea, and Cy arrived to help deliver it. Gimbly and Seliea had been training to be midwives and Cy tagged along to keep Thal from busting into the room while Seth wailed in agony. That was the longest night of their lives. Thal and Cy chatted for a while, trying to find something to keep themselves occupied as they waited. It wasn't easy. Hours crept by and Thal began to pace. Then he tried to sit and read, but it didn't work. He tried taking a nap, but was restless. After almost 5 hours, Seth began screaming. It took all of Cy's strength to pin him to the floor and restrain him from going to her. He knew it was hard to hear her in such pain and not be by her side. After Thal promised he wouldn't run to her, Cy got up and comforted him as best he could.

About another hour past and the screaming finally subsided. Thal and Cy waited eagerly for someone to tell them what had happened. Was it a girl or a boy? Was Seth all right? Did everything go safely? Thal was about to get up and go to her when Gimbly appeared from the hallway. They both stood up and looked at her eagerly.

"Well?" asked Thal, clearly out of patience.

Gimbly broke out into a huge grin. "Congratulations, Thal. It's a girl!"

Those words hit Thal like a heard of Kodo. He was a father. He had a baby girl. This strange feeling filled his entire body and he felt like he would explode from sheer joy. He turned towards Cy, a giant smile plastered on his face and gave him a manly hug (if hugs can even BE manly).

"Congratulations," Cy said.

"Do you guys want to see the kid or not?" cried Seliea from down the hall.

Both the men rushed into the back room and Thal stopped dead as soon as he entered. Seth was laying on their double bed, covered in blankets with a small brown bundle in her hands. Seliea was still cleaning things up and looked totally exhausted. Gimbly followed Cy into the room and helped her finish cleaning. Thal slowly walked over to Seth and looked at the bundle she had. He let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. Seth smiled at him and held her up to him, and he took her into his hands. She was so small and delicate. Seliea had cleaned her off well. Her skin was a bit of an ash color, but that was how Blood Elves usually looked when they were born. She had little blonde hairs coming out of her head, and her eyes were slowly starting to open.

"She looks so much like you, Thal," Seth said. She sounded extremely tired.

"Yeah," he whispered. Her eyes moved a few times and then she opened them. Thal was started. He had thought they would be that Emerald Green, but they weren't. They were the color of Seth's eyes. Beautiful blue eyes that shone like the moon. No, Thal thought to himself. The moon would envy the shine of these eyes.

"She has your eyes," Thal said, handing her back to Seth.

Everyone gathered around to see them. They were indeed beautiful. They were clear and pure. So innocent.

"We're going to need new bed sheets, aren't we?" Thal asked, making everyone laugh. Seth playfully slapped him.

"So, what are you going to call her?" asked Gimbly.

"Ashenta," Seth said without a second thought. Her skin was the color of ash, though she would grow out of it. Thal nodded. The name fit perfectly.

"Ashenta," Thal repeated.

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**There it is, the prologue! I had to start somewhere with this. I'll try to post every week or two. Sorry it as so short, but I had to start somewhere! Well, I'll see you in Cataclysm! *Grats to all you overachievers who will ding 85 in the first few hours of release!***

**Viv**


	2. The Cataclysm

**Chapter 1: The Cataclysm**

**Disclaimer: ***Insert Disclaimer Here*

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It was mid afternoon on a warm autumn day. The weather in Hyjal was usually clear and warm all year round, aside from one month where the temperature would drop and there would be clouds overhead. Other than that, the weather was normally nice. That's one of the reason's Seth's garden was so full of food. There were ideal farming conditions all year round. She grew everything her, Thal, and now Ashenta, needed in that garden. Seth was just finishing up tending to her berries when a small owl flew into the kitchen window. Seth smiled to herself, and walked into the house.

She took off her boots near the door, removed her gloves and put them on the counter. The grey owl was perched on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. There was a letter in it's beak. Seth gently stroked it's beautiful feathers and took the letter from it's mouth. She opened up one of the cupboards and took out a small piece of dried meat for it. The bird happily accepted it.

Seth sat down on the other chair and opened the letter. She easily recognized the hand writting as Gimbly's and smiled to herself. What crazy things was Gimbly up to now?

_Dear Seth,_

_Oh, jeez Seth! I don't know where to begin! So much has happened since I sent you that last letter a month ago. I guess I'll start at the beginning. Recently, all parts of Azeroth have been experiencing earthquakes. No one thought anything of it at first, but they've been getting increasingly worse. Last week I was in Stormwind and I noticed these strange people dressed in robes about how we had to redeem ourselves and soon the world would be torn asunder. It was strange and quite frightening. I looked around and spotted a poster claiming not to believe the fools. It said they were a part of some cult called Twilight's Hammer. They've left Stormwind now, though._

_Even stranger still is the random rifts that are appearing all over around the world. They seem to come from out of no where! There's always different elementals where ever a rift is spotted, and the Earthern Ring is puzzled to whats going on. I don't know if you've noticed any of this in Hyjal-_

There was a giant line and a smudge as if something had happened to Gimbly while writing.

_Oh no! Seth it's horrible! It's Deathwing, Seth! Deathwing! He destroyed part of Stormwind just now and everyone is in a panic! I don't know how or why, but this means trouble. Seth, I think it's safer if you and Thal left Hyjal immediately. You can stay with Seliea and Cy or myself, but Ashenta looks so much like Thal, she'll have to go with him. I can't write anymore, I have to help put fires out. Please, Seth. Come home and be safe!_

_Gimbly_

Deathwing! Seth shot up from her chair and quickly ran to her room, she donned her battle gear, grabbed her staff and ran from the house. Thal was out hunting right now, and of course he had taken Brusha with him. She looked around, but her mount was no where to be seen.

"Misty!" she cried. Seth let out a sharp whistle, and a second later a large gray cat burst from the trees. Seth ran to meet her and jumped onto her back once she was close enough. Seth grabbed Misty's reins and raced through Hyjal's forests. She had to find Thal and they had to get out of there. Her thoughts jumped to Ashenta and she pushed Misty to increase her pace. She would find Thal and they would get Ashenta and leave Hyjal.

Thal was quietly sitting behind some bushes stalking a fine stag. It was a ten pointer, and would definitely make a fine meal tonight. The stag was totally at ease, not at all noticing Thal's presence. He grabbed his runeblade and was about to go in for the attack when the dear's head suddenly perked up. It's ears twitched back and forward. Before Thal could even move, the dear bolted. He was about to go after it when a loud roar broke the silence. Thal turned around just in time to see a giant gray colored cat running toward him faster than a speeding bullet. He thought for sure it would run into him, but at the last moment it jumped clear over his head and the bush. It stopped in the middle of the clearing, and Thal saw Seth hop of it's back donned in her battle gear. He knew something was wrong.

"Seth? What's wrong?"

"Gimbly sent me a letter saying Deathwing had burst forth from Deepholm! He destroyed part of Stormwind and he's been terrorizing the people of Azeroth ever since. It's not safe here anymore and we have to leave, immediately!" Seth stopped to catch her breath.

Thal was in a state of shock momentarily. Great, right after they killed the Lich King, something even worse and possibly more threatening had to happen. Couldn't they catch a break?

"Where's Ashenta?" Thal said, snapping out of his trance.

"Back at the house. We have to get her and..." Seth looked through the clearing towards their house and her eyes widened in horror. Far in the distance, there was smoke rising from where there house was. Seth hadn't made a fire in the fireplace, either.

"No!" Thal cried. He let forth a sharp whistle and Brusha came running to his side, he threw his legs over her side and raced off toward there house, Seth right on his heels.

They rushed through the land, pushing their mounts to their peaks and expecting the worse. What they saw when they arrived was even worse than anything they could have possibly imagined. The house Thal had built for them with his own two hands was set aflame with no possible way to get back inside. Standing in front of the house was a group of men, at least ten, all dressed in the same brownish robes. Each of them were laughing among themselves, oblivious to Seth and Thal. What made Thal boil over with intense rage was not only the fact that their house was now destroyed, or the fact the men had stolen from Seth's garden. No, what really set him off was the small crying child in the largest man's hands.

A loud roar erupted from right beside Thal and he looked over to see Seth had jumped from her mount, gone cat, and was now charging for the men and her helpless child. The men had stopped laughing and turned to look in their direction. Several of the men instantly panicked and began channeling some sort of spell, probably to get them out of there. Thal wasted no more time and followed Seth on Brusha. These men would die for this!

Seth went directly for the man holding Ashenta, but someone threw up a protective barrier around him and Seth's claws failed to pierce it. She turned to look at the one who stopped her, and went for him instead. Two of the group were casting a portal to return them from where ever they came. Thal ran up and drew his runeblade and beheaded the first caster, but when he went for the second, one of the men charged him, knocking him from Brusha.

Seth had sunk her teeth right into the man who shielded the one holding her child's throat, and now he lay dead on the ground. Before she could go after the other one again, two men blocked her path. One began channeling a fireball while the other slowed her to the best of her ability. Seth rammed into the one in front of her, knocking the wind out of him. Then she jumped over him and raked her claws right across the other's chest. He cried out in agony and she stopped his cries by slicing his throat with her claws.

Thal had gotten back up and killed the man who knocked him over. He turned to the caster, but his portal was already complete and he must have gone through it. Seth was busy fighting with two others when Thal spotted the man with Ashenta. He rushed for him, but found he couldn't move. He tried moving, but he was unable. He shouted to Seth, who had just finished off the last of them. She turned to look at him, saw Ashenta, and charged the man.

But it was too late. He had stepped through the portal, Ashenta in hand, and disappeared. Seth tried following him, but the portal closed just as she jumped for it. Shocked, she turned around, changed forms and just stared where the portal had been. Thal had been released from his hold and ran over to her. She turned to him, tears streaming down her face, and flung herself into his arms. They both fell to the ground on their knees. Seth was sobbing and Thal was failing at holding back tears of his own. Everything they had ever loved had been lost to them.

"She's gone Thal," Seth sobbed. "Taken away and there wasn't anything we could do! What's going to happen to her Thal? What's going to happen to my baby?"

Thal stroked her head and made small shushing noises. He didn't have the answers to any of her questions, and he wished he did.

"I don't know, Seth," he said. He looked at their still burning home. "But I do know this. They won't get away with what they've done. We'll find them and Ashenta and exact our revenge. No matter how long it takes, Seth. We will find them."

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**This is the last we'll see of Seth and Thal for a while. From here on out, it's all about Ashenta! Course, she isn't known as Ashenta yet...So don't get confused come the next chapter. Please leave a review! Constructive critisism is always welcomed!**


	3. Gotta Go!

**Chapter 2: Gotta Go!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own wow.. If I did, I would have fixed Druid healing by now! *Hint hint***

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"Wow Quen'ala, you look beat."

"Yeah, Inquisitor An'tash was extra hard on us today, and it doesn't help that we were practicing outside near the lava fields."

Quen plopped down onto her bed. It wasn't the most comfortable bed in the base, but it was better than sleeping outside. Much much better. It was hot and crispy outside. Hyjal had at one point probably been a beautiful place, but all Quen ever saw was the burnt greenery, the lava fields, and other Twilight's Hammer encampments. Sometimes Quen wished she could have seen what things looked like before they had started burning everything down. It was to win the war, her superior said, but Quen just didn't see the benefit.

"Are you going to take a shower?"

"Later, Torn. I just want to rest right now."

Torn nodded and went back to reading his scrolls. Quen sighed. Inquisitor An'tash had worked them harder than normal today. She was usually really lenient when it came to harder spells, but today she was like a totally different person. Quen really didn't care right now, she was enjoying her bed too much.

Quen was a young sorcerer under the guidance of the Twilight Hammer group. She had been part of the group since her birth, and was one of the more experience sorcerers. She believed that the group was trying to change Azeroth for the better of the people, and that those who didn't understand and wouldn't join them would only get in there way. She was an open minded person and would consider everyone's opinion, but if someone spoke out against the group, or called it a cult, she would put them on her black list. Quen was a very hard worker, and many of her teachers respected her. Up until the last year she had been climbing up the ranks, but now she couldn't seem to concentrate well enough to do anything right.

Lately she had been thinking about some of the things she had been hearing from some of the older members. Things like how the group was trying to cause an apocalypse or how they were looking for a way to resurrect the old gods. Stuff like that use to just bounce off her, but now she was seriously beginning to wonder. Not only that, but she had also been thinking more about her parents. Quen had once asked Inquisitor Cortorin about them, and he said they had been killed in a raid and it was there wish for Quen to become a high ranking member of Twilight's Hammer. He would never tell her anything else about them.

Torn, her best friend and roommate was also an orphan. His parents had died of a disease when they arrived at Grim Batol, the main base for Twilight's Hammer, and the group had taken Torn in and raised him. The two were very alike in this way. In the early stages of their training, the two had met and formed a lifelong friendship.

Quen got off her bed and looked into the small mirror by her bed. She started rubbing her eyes. Every since she could remember, her eyes had always bothered her. Every now and then there would be an itching burning feeling in her eyes and no matter how much she rubbed them it wouldn't go away. She stopped rubbing them for a second and looked at her eyes through the mirror. There was something about the way they glowed that just seemed fake to her. Like her real eyes were hidden by something. She started rubbing them again.

"Are you eyes bothering you again, Quen?" asked Torn. He placed his massive hooves over the edge of his bed and placed them on the floor. He pushed himself up and walked toward the door. Quen looked over to him and nodded. For a Tauren, Torn was slightly small. What he lacked in size he sure made up for in strength. He could lift Quen and two other Blood Elves at the same time without even braking a sweat.

"I'm going to return these scrolls. I'll walk you to the infirmary if you'd like," Torn offered.

"Thanks, but I want to take a shower first," replied Quen.

Torn shrugged, picked up his scrolls, and walked out of the room closing the door behind him. Quen gave one last look at her eyes and started getting her shower ready.

By the time Quen had finished her shower, it was almost dark out. She would have just went to bed, but now her eyes were burning. The pain was getting so bad her eyes began tearing up. Quen quickly got dressed and headed outside toward the infirmary.

The Twilight Camp she was training at wasn't a giant mansion like place with hundreds of bedrooms, bathrooms and a nice dining room. It was really just a small house where the trainees slept, a few tents for everyone else, the infirmary, and supplies. Sometimes it was overcrowded, but that was usually in the early morning. The infirmary was on the other side of camp. Quen quickly made her way over to the tent.

"Eye troubles again?"

Quen turned to see Instructor Journ, who also doubled as the doctor, making his way toward the tent. He was a tall tan man, fairly built. He had short brown hair that almost looked black from all the ash in the air. He was always kind to her when she came for her eyes. She nodded to him and took a seat on one of the small beds.

"Let me see, then," he said.

He put his hand on her head and looked into her eyes, tilting her head every now and then. Quen never knew why he had to look at them. Each time she came he always did the same thing to fix it. Maybe he was trying to find the source of the problem? He took his hand off her head and whispered something. His words caused his finger to glow a emerald green color. Quen closed her eyes and he ran his finger across both of them. As soon as he lifted his finger, she felt the pain go away.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you." Quen stood up to take your leave.

"Oh, Quen, before you go," he started, "Have any of your instructors told you whats going to happen in three days?"

"No, sir. I hadn't heard anything. Why, what's happening?" asked Quen.

Journ took a seat on a small stool near a workbench and ran a hand through his hair. "Our enemies up north are bringing in massive reinforcements. No one knows the numbers for sure, but most think there will be close to 40,000 of them, probably a lot more than that. For safety reasons, we're planning on moving the training grounds from here eastward. You'll all be safer over there."

40,000 reinforcement? That was almost more people than they had stationed here! Surely they knew they stood no chance? "But what about those who are up north, or stay here? Sooner or later they'll make their way this way and you wont stand a chance!" exclaimed Quen.

"Have faith in your fellow members, Quen! The leaders know what they're doing. Don't forget, we have burnt down most of this forest and we have the Twilight Dragon's on our side," he stated.

Quen frowned. She still wasn't convinced, but she wouldn't argue with her superior. Quen said her goodbyes and returned to her room. Torn hadn't returned yet, so she dressed in her nightgown and slipped into bed.

Quen couldn't get to sleep that night. Her mind began to wander. She thought of all the days activities and want Journ had told her. In her mind, it just didn't add up. Surely those in charge saw this as a suicide mission? They couldn't have been that blind. So why would they just keep everyone at there position. With 40,000 troops heading in to Hyjal, and the Green Dragonflight already here, they were way outnumbered. Something else was going on. But what?

What if it wasn't just a command, but something else? Devotion maybe? Quen had meet a great number of people who had told her being in this group meant a great deal more to them than anything else ever had. They would gladly have died for it's cause. Quen's eyes widened. Everyone here was willing to die a meaningless death just to slow down these reinforcements. Even if they managed to kill hundreds of the troops, they would eventually make there way down here and obliterate everything. Undo everything they had striven so hard to accomplish. But once they made their way to the training grounds, would they kill them too? There was almost no doubt. Quen thought about this long and hard. In the end, her decision was final. She wouldn't stay here and be killed. She would leave, sneak up North and find a way out of Hyjal. She wasn't going to sit around and wait for an opportunity, either. Tomorrow night, once everyone was asleep, she would be gone.

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**I almost forgot to publish this chapter today. XD So, I have exams all week this week up until Wednesday, so I dunno if I'm going to be able to get the next chapter up on Monday. I won't take more than two weeks to get it up, promise! Happy Holidays every one and I'll see you next time!**


	4. Not the Sharpest Tool in the Shed

**Chapter 3: Not the Sharpest Tool in the Shed**

**Disclaimer: Dunt Own Notin' (ZOMG THESE WONT STAY ALIGNED IN THE CENTER! : ( Bah.. forget it. Oh great, now it deleted my evil frown smile! **

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The decision to leave was the easy part. Trying to act normal all day and not draw attention to myself when I had this huge plan was the hard part. This decision wasn't an easy one for me, either. I mean, my whole life I'd lived under the care of Twilight's Hammer, and now I was leaving the only family I'd ever known to search for one that might not even exist! Dumb right? I can't remember a time in my life where I was ever so nervous. Thankfully the commanders had told every one we would be moving in a few days and would continue training once we got there. That meant there was no training scheduled till we got there. It was really the ideal time to split. I just had to try not to get caught.

For the most of the morning, I was in my room planning it all out. Torn was out doing whatever it is he does in the morning, so I had the whole place to myself. I sat spread out on my bed with a map of Hyjal in front of me. There were Twilight's Hammer members spread through the whole lower and some of the middle regions. Then in the North there were the "Guardians of Hyjal" as they called themselves. I had thought about going with the group to the training grounds and escaping through the cave leading to Winterspring, but there would be so many guards watching I doubted I could make it through alive. The only other way was to go North, towards the so called enemy.

My chances were slim at best, but either way I was more than likely to die. At least if I went North, I could use what little trees were left as cover. Maybe only traveling at night would help my chances. I sighed and looked the map over once again.

"What are you doing?"

I jumped over the map and covered it with my body. I looked over my shoulder to see Torn standing there with a curious look on his face. At least I think it was curiosity. You can't really tell with Tauren.

"Nothing!" I'm a terrible liar.

"Let me see," he said. He rolled me over and took the map from me. I was in such a panic I didn't even try to grab it back from him. His eyes slowly roamed over the marks I had made. After what felt like forever, his eyes peaked over the map accusingly.

"When we're you going to tell me you were leaving?"

God, he could read me like a book! Or maybe it was because I had labeled the path I drew on the map as "Escape Route"?

"I'm sorry, Torn. I wasn't planning on telling anybody. You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" Torn was like, my best friend! There was no way he would sell me out like that! Right...?

He sighed at put the map back on my bed. I thought about making a grab for it, but decided against it. He sat down on my bed next to me and the bed sank in like two feet. I had to quickly scoot over so I wouldn't be slammed into him. He looked at me with his soft, brown eyes and I knew he wasn't mad at me, but that's all I knew. I don't know why, but I opened my big mouth and everything came pouring out!

I told him about how I had thought about all the people I knew who would give there life for "the cause" and how I wasn't sure I would do the same. I explained that I wasn't even sure what we were striving for was the right thing. We were always taught what we thought was right, but I questioned it. I wanted to see what others thought was right, but in order to do that I had to leave. I had to converse with the "enemy". Were they our enemies because they had different beliefs? Torn and I have our differences, but we're like the best of friends! Lastly, I told him of how I wanted to find my parents. He argued with me there, saying they had died for the cause, just like his parents had.

"What if that's what they want us to believe? What if there really out there, and think we're the ones who are dead? It's possible, Torn!"

He looked at me like I was insane, but I knew he was considering it. After a while, he stood up and left. Not without saying that he would "think everything over". I knew he wouldn't turn me in! That was the only time I saw him all day. Must have been doing some serious thinking.

Night time came sooner than I would have liked. I was really nervous. My palms were all sweaty and I constantly thought someone was going to come up to me and call me out. Maybe even kill me on the spot. Nothing like that happened though. Before I knew it, I was sneaking out of the camp under the cover of night. My pulse was beating like one hundred miles a minute and I jumped ever time I head something. I was constantly checking over my shoulder to see if someone was following me. After camp was out of sight, I started to calm down a little. I wasn't as nervous, but my palms were still sweaty. I felt a pang of loss in my heart as I realized I hadn't even said goodbye to Torn.

I conjured a small fire with in my palm. It was one of the things I could do without feeling like my soul was being sucked out of me. I grabbed my pack and began digging through it. Oh My God. I forgot the map. HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID AS TO FORGET THE FREAKING MAP! There was like, NO WAY I would go back and get it now. The night watch would be up and patrolling the area around camp! I almost started crying. To get this far and to forgot the map. My carefully thought up escape plan was trash now. All those hours (minutes, really) of planning for nothing! Now I was going to have to navigate on what I remembered, and that wasn't much.

Just as I was about to get up and continue on my way, a huge hand fell onto my shoulder and I let out a scream. I turned around and let my fireball fly from my hands. My attacker easily dodged out of the way, and put his other hand on my shoulder. I tried to struggle out of the grip, but he was too strong. Not even five miles from camp and I'm going to die! I'm such a great adventurer, no?

"Quen! Quen settle down! Jeez, you almost blinded me with that fireball!"

I stopped struggling and looked at my "attacker". It was dark, but in the glow of the moonlight I could clearly see those soft brown eyes and shining white horns.

"Torn?" I said in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

He helped me up and took my pack, throwing it over his shoulder. "I thought about it a lot, Quen. What you said makes some sense, and that's saying something because half the stuff you say I can't even understand."

I glared at him, but he just smiled. "I'm coming with you. You're bound to get yourself killed out here with out me by your side, anyway."

I would have hugged him if someone hadn't approached us at just that moment.

"Hey! What are you two doing out of camp so late?"

BUSTED!

My worst fear had come to pass. We had been caught! Torn and I turned around to see three members of the Night Watch coming our way. Two of them were carrying torches with their weapons at there sides. The third, and largest of the group, had a large sword swung over his back. They all had some impressive black and red plate armor on, no doubt used for hiding in the dark.

"We got lost on our way back to camp earlier today." We were facing the opposite direction of camp. Did I mention I was a terrible liar? Torn covered his face with his palm.

"Camp's that way," said the smallest one pointing over his shoulder. The other two drew their weapons.

I had never actually killed anyone in my life. That's basically what we had been trained to do, but being the naive child I am, thought I would never have to do it. Well, technically Torn was the one who would be killing them, since he was the one who was trained for melee combat, but I was assisting, so I guess I killed them, too... Would this be considered murder!

The one still holding a torch stood back while the other two rushed Torn. He pulled out his two handed sword and blocked both the blows, but slid back several feet. At first I felt like a helpless child until I remembered I could cast spells. I mentally smacked myself. I started casting a few fireballs at them and threw in a few fire blasts to boot. Torn did a great job of keeping them off me. When one of them tried to rush me, he would stun the one he was focusing on and rush to my aid. We had them pretty much beaten when the third guy decided to jump in on the action. I saw him running towards me. Torn was too busy with the other two to help me now. I wasn't able to get any spells off, so I did what comes naturally in a situation like that. I threw my hands up, closed my eyes, and screamed.

But the blow never came.

Torn and the Night Watchmen had stopped battling momentarily to stare blankly at me. I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. The third guy was no where to be seen.

"Baaa!"

I looked down at my feet to see a black and white fluffy sheep. I wonder where that came from? And then everything clicked. I had turned my attacker into a sheep! I wanted to laugh, but I was too shocked to do anything. Torn took that opportunity to finish off the two he had been dealing with. He walked over to the sheep. His sword came down and I looked away. Killing innocent animals is not my thing, polymorphed or otherwise.

After that, Torn and I took shelter on a small cliff a little ways off. When the bodies were found in the morning, the Twilight's Hammer would be less concerned with their two missing pupils and more concerned about whether or not adventurers had made it that far down there. Hopefully anyway.

You know what really sucks? Waking up to find out you camped near a harpies nest. Yeah, that REALLY sucks. Torn and I held them at bay for a while, but they kept coming at us so fast. Torn and I didn't have time to regenerate our strength. Just when we were about to catch a break and make a run for it, four more of them came at us. Torn kept them off me for a few moments, but he can only take so much at a time. I thought it would be a smart idea to try to take one off of him and deal with it myself. Let me tell you, that was NOT the best plan I had ever thought of. I seriously underestimated my abilities to kite the harpy around. The claws of a harpy are super sharp, let me tell you. Torn was about to come to my aid when one last harpy intercepted him.

Nice. Not even halfway through Hyjal and I'm going to die. Sweet. My breathing was harsh and blood was flowing freely from my open wounds. My vision was getting blurry with each passing second. Something purplish wrapped around the harpy and dragged it away from me right when I collapsed.

* * *

**Cool. I managed to get everything into this chapter that I wanted. Again, not the best battle scene in the world, but I can't write them worth crap, so bare with me...is that even the right spelling of that? /shrug. I also need to keep track of which chapter I'm writting... Prologue screwed me all up! XD Please leave a review! Constructive critisism is always welcomed!**


	5. Death Knights, Dragonhawks, and TB

**Chapter 4: **Death Knights, Dragonhawks and Thunderbluff.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own wow...Heck, I don't even own a single donut right now!

* * *

You want to know what's scarier than almost bleeding to death, heights, and being brought to an enemy camp put together? Waking up from a day of unconsciousness and having the first thing you see be a pair of ice blue eyes inches from your face. God, I must have made the elf deaf with that scream. I almost made myself deaf, too. When I woke up that day, I was seriously scared out of my mind, disoriented, and light headed. Thankfully, Torn was right there by my side once I stopped screaming to clear everything up for me.

So this is how it went down. Remember how I said I saw some purplish thing grab that harpy away from me before I crashed? Well, that was a Blood Elf Death Knight using Deathgrip to save my ass. The same Death Knight who I had screamed at earlier. After he had polished off that harpy and Torn had finished his, they wasted no time getting me to a safer place and all bandaged up. Once I was in a stable condition, the Death Knight started questioning Torn.

First he questioned what we were doing way down in Twilight territory. We were just kids! Well, I'm still an adolescent, but I don't know about Torn. He's probably like, twenty or something. If it had been me, I would have at least tried to lie my way out of it, but Torn's a no nonsense kind of guy. He doesn't think lying gets you anywhere, which is a total lie in itself. So Torn being Torn he told him the whole deal! From us being Twilight escapees to how we got there in the first place. Like, seriously, the WHOLE story. Not a detail left out. Not even how I forgot my map! Embarrassing much?

Course, this was all before I woke up. Now that I was up, there was lots of questioning from the Guardian's of Hyjal. They didn't get much information though. Most of what we told them they already knew. I mean, we were just trainees. We were kept in the dark for the most part. Though, when we told them about moving all the trainees to the exit near Winterspring, they didn't seem to surprised. That was the only thing we knew that they didn't. After that, they left us alone for a while.

"So now what?" I asked Torn. I was trying not to scratch where I had been cut. They had some healers come in earlier and heal my wounds, but it itched like crazy!

"I don't know," He replied. "There's no direct route out of here unless we fly or get a Mage to port us out. Both of those things cost some money, and we don't have any."

"We could probably find something to do around here for a little cash. I'm sure there's something we could do."

"That won't be necessary," said someone from the entrance of the tent.

Torn and I both turned to see the Death Knight from earlier standing there with a bunch of cloth in his hands. He was fairly built. I mean, he would have to be to wear all that heavy plate armor, right? He had really long light blue hair that shimmered from the light outside. Looked really soft, too. Kinda made me want to touch it. Not that I would or anything! Not without permission... Anyway, his face was angular and came to a nice point at his chin. He was really kind of cute, but probably way to old for me. He tossed the bundle of cloth at me.

"Here, change into these. Your old clothes got ruined, and these are better for travel. He held the tent flap open for Torn. When Torn passed him, I noticed he was really tall for a Blood Elf. The top of his head was at Torn's shoulders.

Before he left, he looked at me, smiled, and said, "I know what your thinking, but I'm way out of your league. Besides," he said leaving the tent, "I'm taken."

My jaw seriously dropped. I mean, for real! My face must have turned beat red, too! The nerve! Honestly! Ugh! There's just no words to describe that. Other than he might be psychic. Doubt it, though. I turned around and looked at the clothes in my hands. There was a short sleeved linen shirt that had a small V cut neckline, and a pair of mageweave pants that were made to withstand wear and tear. I took off the robe the healers had given me and put on the new clothes. They were very comfortable and fit me very well. I wondered who made them.

"Knock knock!" I turned around. Torn was standing there with a pack on his back and one for me as well. He handed it to me and I sat it on the bed. I pulled out my boots from under the bed and slipped them on. Then I threw the pack over my shoulders and followed Torn out of the tent.

So, apparently, the Death Knight, who called himself Thaladona, decided it was his mission to help us find our parents. If they weren't alive, then he said he would help us find a stable job and place to live. Honestly, this seemed really far fetched to me. Torn thanked him from the bottom of his heart. I just questioned him to no end. The only answer I got out of him was that he felt sorry for us (I didn't need his pity!) and that he needed to get out of Hyjal for reasons he wouldn't explain. Eventually Torn told me I should stop questioning him and just be grateful.

"Don't look a gifted Kodo in the mouth." Those were his exact words. After that, I sighed and gave up.

Have you ever seen Nordrassil? Biggest. Fucking. Tree. EVER! I'm dead serious. That thing must be, like, a gajillion miles high! I almost broke my neck trying to look up at the top of it. Torn was just as shocked as I was, but didn't show it. I let my jaw drop and said, "Wooooow." Thal just laughed and walked on a head. So, the base underneath the tree isn't too impressive. There's this giant house like structure over looking the lake, a small forge, some noisy birds, and some angry rocks. That about sums it up pretty well. Kinda disappointing when you're expecting something even better than a huge tree.

Torn and Thal went off on there own when we got there and just kinda left me on my own. Of course they were coming back. They just went off to get Torn some better traveling gear, that's all. I don't see why Thal can't just make him some. He is a blacksmith, isn't he? It would make sense, seeing as how he himself wears plate armor. Then again, he could be the one who made me these nice clothes. I looked them over again and laughed. Yeah, right.

So, thirty minutes later when Thal and Torn had come to find me, I was checking out the Hippogryphs. They were very beautiful creatures with shimmering green, black, and red feathers. I couldn't exactly place which animals it looked to be a cross of. Maybe I raven and a stag? That would explain the horns. Would we be ridding these to our destination? I didn't know if I liked that idea. It would be, like, totally awesome to ride on what appears to be such a clean and majestic creature, but I am absolutely TERRIFIED of hights.

When I first saw Torn in his new armor, I almost didn't recognize him. He looked...well, down right fierce. If I hadn't known him for forever and a day, I'd almost be afraid of him. His armor was a dull shade of gray. It covered him from head to hoof and left almost no flesh exposed. It really suited him well. It all looked super heavy though.

"Wow Torn, isn't that stuff heavy?" I asked.

He shook his head. "It's just like you, Quen, to ask about how much it weights or how comfortable it is. And before you ask, yes. It is surprisingly comfortable," he replied.

Thal had snuck away from the group and secured two Hippogryphs for their journey. Torn took his appreciatively. I gave him a questioning look.

"What?" He asked handing me the reins of the other.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Thunderbluff, since it's closer than Silvermoon."

"What are you going to be taking? You are coming with us, right?"

"Of course. I just prefer to travel in style," he replied. He put his fingers up to his mouth and let our a sharp whistle. There was a loud cry from above and I looked up. A huge slim figure with butterfly wings was swooping down upon us. It let out another cry and I covered my ears. The beast finally landed and I got a good look at it. It was this humungous black and red...thing with these large butterfly wings and a beak. It shocked me to be honest. I'd never seen anything like that in my entire life.

"What IS that?" I asked.

Thal was already seated atop the thing. I climbed onto my mount. "It's a dragonhawk!" he shouted over his shoulder. Then, he took off with Torn and I right on his heels.

So the flight went relatively smooth in my opinion. Torn's mount lagged behind a bit from his weight, but we all made it to Thunderbluff safely. When I first saw the plateau, I couldn't believe it was a natural land mark. It was incredible. The city on top of it even more so. When we landed, Thal said he had to meet someone real quick and he would meet us at the inn on the lowermost spire. Torn was hungry though, and wanted a bite to eat. Me? Well, let me just tell you, Thunderbluff is a huge city, and very easy to get lost in.

I don't know how I did it, but somehow I always manage the impossible. I got lost right after I took three steps away from the flightmaster.

* * *

**I love you, Quen. You're really fun to write. Plus, it's easy to get you into trouble. ^^ And who doesn't like a character who easily gets into sucky situations? But no, I'm not kidding about TB. It's my fav horde city right after Silvermoon, and the only place I can get to with out getting lost is the Druid Trainer. Otherwise, I'm sunk. Also, cookies to whoever can guess who Thal's going to meet. It shouldn't be too hard to guess, but don't worry if you don't know. It's not really important right now, anyway. I really just needed an excuse to seperate them all. Anywho, till next time and Happy New Year all!**

**~Viv**


	6. Baby Boy Tornto

**Chapter 5: Baby Boy Tornto**

**Disclaimer: World of Warcraft belongs to Blizzard Entertainment.**

Okay, so being lost isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Sure, I don't know where I'm going or who any of these strange cow people are, but being lost gives me the opportunity to stop, slow down, and just think. Everyone needs to think every now and then. So, after I got lost coming down from the flight mater, I came to this real open bluff. There was a giant totem pole to my left and little huts all lining the walk ways. You can't really call them roads, because they're a bit too small for that. There were various signs and vendors all selling their wares. This must have been the general trading district of Thunderbluff. I looked around and saw a small pond surrounded on one side by what looked like some blacksmiths, an anvil, and a small forge. On the other side of the pond, there was this giant tree. Not as big as Nordrassil, but it was bigger than me. I really didn't feel like getting more lost or into any trouble, so I decided to go over and sit underneath it. Thal or Torn would have to come through here sometime or another, right?

The tree was, of course, large and had probably been there for some time. I sat with my back to the bark, which was fairly smooth for an Evergreen. I guess that means I don't have to worry about getting any splinters. The shade it provided was a great way to get away from the early summer heat. I hadn't really thought of the weather or how it would affect this "journey" I was on now. Torn must have been suffering in his heavy plate armor. I was glad I was wearing cloth, but even so, I was still starting to sweat. My light brown short sleeved shirt wasn't too bad, but these dark blue mageweave pants were killing me! Dark colors must absorb heat or something. I pulled my knees up to my chest, and tried ripping them, but these were extremely hard to tear. I had to find a way to make them shorter, but how?

I got up and left the wonderful protection of my shady oasis in search of a cutting tool. I thought about asking the blacksmiths who I had seen earlier, but Tauren in plate armor intimidated me too much. They were probably nice people, but they were so intimidating! They scared the crap out of me. I walked along the path browsing the various vendors wares. At one point, I remembered I didn't have any money to buy a knife even if I found one. Maybe they would just let me borrow it?

I saw lots of different things being sold. Some people were selling bags and fruits, while these one Tauren were running this thing called an Auction House. Don't ask what it is, because I didn't stop to ask. I eventually found a bank and learned setting up a savings box was free, so I decided to do that. If I ever had anything of importance I could store it there. Wasn't like I would ever find anything important, but you never know. Oh, I also found the inn Thal told us to meet him at, but he wasn't there. I decided it wouldn't hurt to continue my search for a little while longer.

I had been wandering around for a while, and I found myself fascinated with how high up Thunderbluff actually is! The plateau it sits on must be over a hundred feet high. Something that big was too high to be man made, but too unreal to be natural! When I looked over the side, I could barely see the ground below. I freaked out and almost fell over the edge. That was a long way down, and there was no way I wanted to fall off and get squished. Probably a painful way to die.

I was walking in between tents, trying to find my way back to the small pond with the tree, when my pants got caught on something. At that point, I had totally forgotten what I was looking for in the first place and was more preoccupied with staying out of the sun. It was really hot out here. Not to mention windy. In fact, the wind chose that exact moment to blow incredibly had in my direction. The tents around me flapped and moved fiercely, but were firmly held down and made to stand up to the most fierce winds. Anyway, the wind blew me so hard that the part of my pants that got caught, ripped and sent me tumbling backwards. I thought I would hit the ground with a thud, but imagine my surprise when instead I fell right over the edge of the bluff.

I started to scream, but was abruptly silenced. My back smacked into something so hard the wind was knocked out of me. I've never had that happen before, and it's not a pleasant experience. You feel like you can't even breathe. All you can do is open and close your mouth like a fish out of water. Then there was the pain in my back too. Didn't really help the whole "not being able to breathe" situation. While I floundered around like a fish out of water, something under me groaned and started to get up, which in turn knocked me off of my back and onto my stomach. Definitely not the best day ever. By the time the thing I had landed on managed to stand up fully, I had regained some of my breathing ability by taking small breaths.

"What the...?" said a voice. It was definitely a Tauren, but the voice wasn't as deep as what I had expected.

"Oh my! Are you alright?" the voice said again. Before I could reply, I was gently picked up and placed into a sitting position. I flinched in pain. My back was killing me!

The person I landed on turned out to be a female Tauren. Believe it or not, I had never actually seen one before, so I was kind of shocked. I thought they would look similar to the males, but this one clearly had feminine traits. Her horns, which were a wonderful ivory color, looked neatly kept. Her eyes were large and a beautiful shade of brown. He snout wasn't as long as the males of her species, and her brown hair was neatly swept behind her head. She also possessed what I supposed was a very feminine figure for female Tauren. Not to mention her voice was soft and sweat, but still a lot deeper than mine. Totally not what I was expecting. I thought a female Tauren would be... I don't know, more manly?

I started to cough, more like wheeze actually, and the Tauren handed me a vial of clear liquid. It looked a lot like water. I took it from her and drank it. It was water. I handed her the empty vial and she looked me over and then looked up to the bluff.

"That must have been a nasty fall. Are you alright?" she asked again.

"For the most part," I replied. "My back's killing me though."

"Here," she said walking around me, "let me take a look."

I don't know what she did, but a few seconds later and this strange sensation filled me. My back felt like it was being massaged with the most gentle and healing hands I could ever imagine. This warm fuzzy feeling started in my back, then it moved all over my body. It was relaxing and healing and every good word you could think of. After the sensation faded away, I felt so relaxed and calmed. I totally forgot everything for a moment.

"That better?" the Tauren asked.

I blinked a few times and everything came back to me. "Uh, yeah," I replied. The Tauren came back around and stuck out her hand to me which I accepted. She pulled me up off the ground with no effort and I stretched.

"Thanks," I said. "What exactly did you do back there? I've never felt so good before in my entire life!"

She chuckled. "All I did was cast a simple healing spell on you. Have you never been healed by a Druid before?"

I shook my head. "Thanks again. My name is Quen'ala, but just call me Quen."

"It's very nice to meet you, Quen," she said bowing her head to me. "My name is Tana."

Now that my back wasn't the center of my attention, I realized she looked very familiar. Her eyes, horns, and light brown hide all seemed so familiar. I couldn't for the life of me find out why thought.

"So, what caused you to fall off that cliff?" she asked.

I told her about how I got lost and how I decided to just relax for a while. Then I mentioned wanting to make my pants shorter, which by the way, happened when I fell off the cliff. Whatever they were caught on must have ripped them when I fell. Just then my stomach growled and Tana laughed. She invited me to come with her back to her parents house where she was staying for a while. Her mother would have dinner ready soon, and Tana was sure she wouldn't mind feeding an extra mouth. I giggled and agreed.

On the way up to her house we stopped by the inn to see if Thal or Torn had returned. The innkeeper informed me that Torn had indeed returned, but he went back out to the city. He said he would be back before nightfall, though. We thanked her for the information and went on our way. We went up the spiral ramp that led to the flight master and exited before we got there. There were various merchants selling their wares here too, but these were more along the lines of herbs, mining and jewlcrafting supplies, and threads and cloths. Tana lead me to this large light tan hut. I could hear the sound of two people arguing, and one of the voices sounded very familiar. Tana held back the tent flap and I walked inside. It was much larger on the inside than it had looked from outside. There were different shapes, sizes, and colors of leathers hanging from lines up high in the room, and the whole place smelt of leather. Several different styles of gear hung from the walls behind a counter. The counter was made of glass, and inside of it were knives and scales of all shapes and sizes. Behind the counter was a large door where I assumed Tana's family lived most of their lives.

I knew I heard a familiar voice. Torn was here having what seemed to be a fierce argument with a burly old Tauren about the quality of some sort of vest or something. I wasn't really sure, nor did I really care. I just wanted to find the food that delicious fragrance was from and devour it. Tana rushed over to the old Tauren and tried to calm him down. I figured it was her father. I began to walk over to them, but stopped before I had even taken a first step. I looked from Tana to Torn and then back again. Just at that moment, a light bulb shot off in my head. The color of their hides, those soft brown eyes, and those magnificent ivory horns! Why, if I hadn't known any better, I would have said that those two were...

A loud crash came from behind the counter in the shop, and we all turned to see an elderly female Tauren standing in the door frame. She had just dropped a glass of some sort of beverage. Her eyes were wide with shock and her hands were shaking. I hurried over to help her clean up her glass, but before I could, she spoke.

"Tornto," she said. "Tornto, is that really you?"

* * *

**Sorry I didn't update last week. I was feeling under the weather and my computer turned into a piece of crap. Hopefully I can get a new one for my birthday, but that isn't until April. Anyway, since I missed last weeks update and you still need this weeks update, you're getting two chapters this week! Also, sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes. I've been busy as of late. Remember, reviews are very welcomed!**


	7. Major Freakout!

Chapter 6: Major Freakout!

**Disclaimer: Blizzard owns WoW.**

We all stood there for a few moments, unable to move or say anything. The old male Tauren's eyes had lit up in shock now as well as Tana's. I looked from the old woman to Torn and then back again. After a while, it was Torn who finally broke the silence.

"How," he started, almost whispering, "how do you know my name?"

Now everyone, including me, was looking from Torn to the old woman. Totally ignoring the broken glass on the floor, the old woman walked over to Torn. They looked at each other intently for a moment before the old heifer broke down into tears and threw her arms around Torn. Now, at this point I was totally confused. The look on Torn's face told me he was just as clueless as I was. I looked at the old bull and then to Tana. Remembering my thought from earlier, everything became almost as clear as day.

"No way," I whispered, hardly able to believe it myself.

"Margarine, are you sure?" asked the old bull. His voice sounded like it was going to crack.

"Absolutely," Margarine nodded. She let go of Torn for a moment and looked at his bewildered face once more. Tears were still streaming from her eyes, leaving damp trails on her face. "There's no doubt that this is my baby boy, Tornto."

That statement pretty much confirmed it for me. Torn and Tana looked so much alike, it was hard to believe they weren't siblings. Not to mention the features shared between Margarine, Torn, and the old bull. Looking the family over again, I had to say that Torn and Tana look more like their mother, but their coloring comes from their father because Margarine was white with black spots. They were more of a faded gray now though.

Things got pretty chaotic after that. Tana started to cry as well, and even Hortensio, which was the old bull's name, shed a tear or five. Of course, Torn was still as confused as ever, so Margarine took us all into the kitchen. We all sat down at a large oak table and she explained it to us over a steaming hot bowl of Planestrider Soup.

Margarine and Hortensio were returning to Thunderbluff after a long journey from Stranglethorn Vale. They had to stop into Orgrimmar for supplies. Margarine was heavy with what the two thought was one child. The town was very crowded with people this time of year, and the inn was booked. Thankfully, the two would be staying with a close friend of theirs. Their friend was a female Orc by the name of Rarnar. After they got settled, Hortensio went out in town to buy supplies. Everywhere he went, he noticed these strange hooded figures preaching of an upcoming apocalypse. He paid them no mind and went back on his way.

Back at Rarnar's house, Margarine had started to have labor pains. She had hopped they could get to Thunderbluff before the baby was born, but knew there was little chance at that. Hortensio returned two hours later. By then, Margarine was just about ready to have her baby. It was a long and tiring night, but after hours of pain, Tornto was born. Surprisingly, it wasn't over yet. Several minutes later Tana came. The two new parents were overjoyed, but tired all the same. After the babies were cleaned off and put to sleep, everyone in the house went to sleep as well.

Late in the night, everyone was woken by the screaming of both babies. Hortensio and Margarine got up to check on them, but found empty cribs and retreating figures. Margarine cried out in alarm and the two, soon followed by Rarnar, rushed after the figures. Rarnar knew the city well, growing up here all her life. Thanks to her knowledge, they were able to cut off the shadowy figures and reclaim Tana. They found the thief who had stolen Tornto and were close to getting him back as well, but the cloaked figure was able to distract them for one moment and escaped. Margarine cried for weeks on end, and Hortensio fared no better than his wife. They longed to go after the figure and find Tornto, but they couldn't just leave Tana with Rarnar. Sadly, the two made their way back to Thunderbluff. Margarine prayed and hoped that someday she would see Tornto again.

I had finished my soup by the time she had finished her story, and now I was getting tired. Torn was wide awake, though. He seemed very eager to hear more about his family, and I suspected he wanted some time to let everything sink in and eventually he would come to form a strong bond with them. I yawned and Margarine laughed. She suggested we stay here for the night. I gladly accepted her offer. Hortensio prepared a space for me and Torn to sleep. Torn probably stayed up all night, but I laid down on that mat and passed out.

Like I had suspected, Torn had stayed up the majority of the night talking to Margarine and Hortensio. He was asleep next to me when I woke. I stretched and looked around, remembering where I was. Then I started to wonder if anyone was up. I made my way through the house, but seeing no one I decided to go outside and get some air. That's when I spotted Tana making her way around the house. I rushed to follow her. When I found her, she was sitting on the edge of the plateau with her hooves dangling over the edge.

"You're not going to jump, are you?" I asked.

She jumped and turned around. "Oh, Quen!" she exclaimed, starting to giggle, "I didn't hear you follow me out. Did you sleep well?"

I sat down next to her and absently ran my fingers through my hair. "Yes, I slept fine. What about you?"

"I didn't get much sleep at all, really."

I studied her for a moment. I gave her a "what's on you mind" look and she chuckled.

"For all of my life, I've known I had a twin brother. My mother told me the same story she told you when I was ten, and I could hardly believe it. After that, I had always expected him to show up and I would recognize him right away and my parents would be happy and we would all live as one big happy family. But then, when my mother said that was him, I just couldn't believe it. I know better now that I'm older, but I always thought it would be easy to accept him with open arms. He's almost a complete stranger to me, though."

"Well, I can't exactly say I know where you're coming from. I don't know anything about my parents or any family I have, but I can understand what you mean. I know he seems like a stranger now, and he may not be the most talkative person in the world, but somehow you'll learn more about him then you care to know. He'll work his way into your heart and you won't be able to get him out no matter what you try! He's my best friend, and I'm glad he's found people who will love and accept him. Over time, you'll get to know him. It'll be like he's always been here. Trust me."

Tana laughed and we talked about a bunch of different stuff. She told me about her training as a druid and how proud her mother was because she was following the same path that she took. She mentioned her childhood and asked about mine. I told her about training in all the different Twilight camps and what they tried to teach me. She felt sorry for me, I could tell. I told her it was all in the past and not to worry about it.

"What are you going to do if you don't find your parents?" she asked.

I paused and played with my hair for a long time. It had never really occurred to me what I would do in that situation. "I haven't thought about it much," I told her. "Thaladona said he would.." I stopped. "OH MY GOSH I FORGOT ABOUT THAL!"

I jumped up from my spot behind her and rushed toward the giant totem poll that acted as a ramp to the different plateaus. If he had returned to the inn and found we weren't there, what would he do? I was going to be in big trouble if he was there. I ran into the inn panting and trying to catch my breath. The inn keeper was a bit startled, but once I caught my breath and was able to speak again, I asked her if Thal had shown up during the night. She said he didn't. I walked out of the inn just in time to see Tana rushing after me.

"What's the big rush?" she asked.

"Thal said he would meet us at the inn, but he never came back," I explained.

She shrugged. "Maybe something came up and he's going to be longer than he thought," she said. "In any case, I think you should come back to the house for breakfast. I'm sure he'll be back by lunch."

I shrugged and followed her. When we got back, Margarine had prepared a wonderful breakfast of different kinds of fruit. Tana's eyes lit up in excitement. This was her favorite breakfast, and they only had it on special occasions. We all sat down and started to eat. I wasn't very hungry though. My eyes had started to bother me again. Through out the whole meal, Margarine kept staring at me for some strange reason. I looked at her several times, but she was staring so intently that I guess she didn't notice. At the end of the meal, she finally spoke up.

"Tana, do you sense anything odd?" she asked.

"Odd?" Tana replied. "What do you mean, mother?"

"I don't know what, but there's something odd about you, Quen."

Now it was my turn to question. "Odd how?"

"It's like there's some sort of block being put on you. It's hard to explain."

Everyone was looking at me now. I kept blinking my eyes, trying to get the pain to go away.

"Something the matter, dear?" asked Margarine.

"My eyes. Every now and then they start to bother me," I explained.

"Come here, let me see." She motioned for me to stand next to her.

I got up from my chair and walked over to her. She remained seated, but even then she was still a good foot taller than me. It made me feel extremely small. She reached up with her three fingered hand and put it on my head. A moment later, that same sensation I had felt when Tana healed my back rushed through me. It didn't spread through my whole body this time, though. Instead, it stayed around my head. It was like I was taking a wonderfully warm shower. I closed my eyes and smiled. It was absolutely revitalizing! After the warmness faded away, I opened my eyes and was met with a gasp and several wide eyes.

"What?" I asked, totally confused.

Tana rushed into the shop section of the house, and returned with a knife. She handed it to me, and I looked at my reflection. Instead of seeing my beautiful fel green eyes and light blonde hair, I saw eyes as blue as the moon and my hair had tints of an extremely light green in it. I dropped the knife and screamed.

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**Mwahaha cliff hanger! Well, there you have it. Two updates for today, since I missed last week's update. Now that Torn's found his family, Quen will be on her own for a while. And where the EFF is THAL! He's comming back next chapter, though. So no worries. Hope you liked it. Please leave a review, and constructive critisism (Sp?) is always welcomed!**


	8. Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

**Chapter 7:** Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

**Disclaimer:** World of Warcraft belongs to Blizzard Entertainment.

So many hits, but not even 10 reviews? C'mon people, I'm dying here! Please, let me know what you think!

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When I dropped the knife, it split my palm open. I felt the pain and stopped screaming for a moment to see what had happened. When I saw the cut I became even more pale then I already was. Have I ever mentioned I hate blood? No? Well now you know. I became weak in the knees and wobbled for a moment before I fell to the floor, still staring at my bleeding palm. This seemed to awaken everyone from their trance like state. Margarine started rushing through the kitchen looking for various items. She yelled at Torn and Hortensio to grab her herbs from the back. The two nodded and disappeared into the back. Margarine had set up a pot of water over the fire pit. Tana took my hand and put her much larger one over it. The same green light from before radiated from her hand, but this time there was only a small numbed tingling instead of the amazing relaxing sensation I normally felt. Hortensio and Torn returned with a small brown satchel with odd smelling plants in it. They handed it to Margarine and went into the shop.

Tana helped me up from the ground and sat me down in a chair she had placed by the fire pit. She held up her hands to me and a different light, this one a lighter shade of green, radiated from her hands. There was this strange tingling on my skin, like little bugs were crawling around on my skin and I started to squirm. Margarine was putting herbs into her pot. She rummaged around through the cabinets and pulled out several clear vials.

"Is this normal?" I asked. I looked to Tana and then to Margarine and then back to Tana again. I could tell by the way Tana was looking at her mother that she had never seen this before. It was just as clear in Margarine's panicked eyes. Margarine put several more herbs in her pot, and seeming satisfied, came to kneel next to Tana in front of me.

"I'm going to be honest with you, Quen," she said. Her voice was soft, but serious. "I have never, in all my years as a healer, seen something like this happen. To make things even worse, I have absolutely no idea what caused this either."

I could feel tears starting to sting my eyes. "It won't always be like this, will it?" My voice cracked at the end and I let a tear fall. I could tell Tana wanted to comfort me, but didn't know how.

"I'm brewing a potion right now that will hopefully clear things up." Margarine paused for a moment and looked at me intently. All of a sudden, her eyes lit up like she had noticed something she hadn't before. "The block is gone."

"What?" I asked, wiping the tears away.

"The block I tried to remove earlier is gone." she clarified. "I wonder how it got there in the first place?"

"What does the block have to do with what's happened to me now?" I asked. We had a more serious problem on our hands than some stupid block! Course, I didn't want to insult my hosts, so I kept this thought to myself.

"Well, nothing that I-"

"Wait!" interrupted Tana. "You said you've always had problems with your eyes, right?" I nodded even though I didn't get where this was going. "And every time they bothered you, you went to see some sort of doctor?" Again I nodded. "What if the doctor put the block on you?"

"What!" I exclaimed. "That's impossible! Doctor Journ was my friend and would never-"

"It makes sense!" said Margarine. She had an enlightened look on her face. "Ever since you were little, someone has been putting a block on you and every time the magic is about to wear out, your eyes start bothering you. By reapplying the block, your eyes no longer irritate you, and whatever they were trying to hide from you stays hidden! So..."

"I guess it kinda makes sense," I said running my fingers through my hair. It might look different, but it still felt the same. "So then, what were they trying to..." I'm not dumb. I was able to put two and two together and get three. If everything Margarine and Tana were saying was true, then the fact that my hair and eyes had changed color when Margarine removed the block meant that this was my true hair and eye color.

Neither Tana nor Margarine could figure out how this could be my natural color. Tana suggested maybe my father was a Death Knight, since they had blue eyes. Margarine stated that it was near impossible for Death Knights to have children since they had been dead at one point. She also pointed out that my eyes were more of a moon blue. We couldn't get too deep into discussion, because at that point the potion Margarine was brewing finished...brewing? I don't know? Any who, I downed several different brews before we finally found one that would bring back my normal...or uh...a normal hair and eye color for me. Tana and I helped Margarine clean up to prepare lunch. Maragrine had made a bunch of potions for me since we didn't know how long it would last. She even gave me a pack made of special fur to carry them all in so they wouldn't break. She also gave me the recipe in case I ever ran out and couldn't reach her to get some more. I wanted to pay her for them, but seeing as how I had no money I couldn't. Margarine didn't care. She said they were on the house. After that, we prepared lunch for everyone. Once it was finished, we called Hortensio and Torn in from the shop. We explained everything that had happened since they left over lunch.

Later on while I was helping Tana and Hortensio out in the shop, I began to wonder if Thal had forgotten about me. Surely his "errand" or what ever it was he was doing couldn't take two whole days, could it? As if on cue, who would step into a leather and mail shop but him. What would he even be doing in a leather in mail shop, I had no idea.

"Quen! There you are!" Thal looked the same as the last time I had seen him. He still had his long, silky blue hair and ice eyes, that very muscular build, and the same dark armor with blue highlights. He seemed more sad than before for some reason though. Had I worried him by not being at the inn? Well, he couldn't expect me to sit and wait almost two days for him, right?

"Can I help you, sir?" asked Hortensio from behind the counter. He seemed to be a bit confused, obviously wondering what a Death Knight would be doing in his shop.

"No, I'm just here to get Quen," he replied.

"And you would be...?"

"Oh, my apologies!" Thal walked up to Hortensio and stuck out his hand. "I'm Thaladona Tempest. I'm acting as guardian of Quen until we reach Silvermoon and she can provide for herself."

Hortensio took his hand and shook it. "I'm Hortensio, Torn's father. That over there is my daughter Tana." Thal looked at Tana and smiled at her. I swear I saw her blush!

"So, does this mean we're leaving?" I asked, breaking the formalities.

"Unfortunately, yes," replied Thal. "We won't leave right a way, of course. We can leave whenever you're ready." Thal turned toward me and opened his mouth to say something. Before it came out, however, he looked me over.

"What on Azeroth did you do to your pants?"

"What?" I looked down at myself. My pants, which use to be long, were now more like shorts, ripped at the bottom. I had forgotten they tore when I fell off the edge and onto Tana. "Oh, that. They tore, that's all," I replied.

Thal sighed. "Well, no matter." He turned to Hortensio. "Thanks for watching her while I was away. I hope she didn't cause too much trouble." Hortensio nodded to him and Thal turned to leave. He looked at me and smiled. I had no idea why. As he left he called to me over my shoulder. "I'll be waiting by the Wyvern Post when you're ready to go."

Thal left and shortly after Margarine and Torn returned from the market. They had seen Thal and knew I would have to leave soon. So Margarine made me a quick snack before I left. She even packed me some water and food for the trip. I told her Thal would watch out for me, and I probably wouldn't need to do much of anything on the trip, but she wanted me to take it anyway. I thanked her and Hortensio for their hospitality.

"You're always welcomed here deary," Margarine said.

Tana and I said our goodbye. There was much hugging and crying and promising to send letters and all that wonderful stuff. I was really going to miss her. And then it came time to say goodbye to Torn. He wouldn't let me say goodbye just yet, though. He insisted that he walk me to the post. I agreed. The sun was just setting beyond the mountains when we got to the post. It painted a beautiful picture in my mind that I would never forget. I was glad I was sharing it with Torn.

"I guess this is where we part ways, huh?" I said, still looking at the sun.

"I guess it is," he replied. "Quen, I want to thank you."

I turned to face him. "Thank me? For what?"

"For the longest time, I knew what the Twilight's Hammer was up to. I wanted to get out, but I didn't have the courage to do it. When you suggested it, I thought you were just kidding. But when you said you were seriously considering it, I found my chance to get out. If it weren't for you, I would have never gotten out of there nor would I have found the wonderful family I have. Because of you, I can live the rest of my life in peace."

"Oh Torn..." I couldn't help myself anymore. I threw myself into his arms and cried. He hugged me back. It was a bit weird since he was like four feet taller than me, but I really didn't care. This was the last time I would ever see my best friend for a while. I didn't want to say goodbye, but after a while, my crying stopped and I knew it was time to go. I pulled away from Torn and he wiped away the tears that still remained in my eyes. I smiled up at him, and he smiled back at me.

"You be good now, alright? Don't get yourself into to much trouble, because I won't be there to save your hide anymore."

I laughed. "I won't Torn, I promise."

"Even if you don't find your parents Quen, I hope you have a safe and wonderful journey."

I was about to cry again, so I hugged him once more and took my leave, waving to him as I went to where Thal would be waiting. He was there just like he said he would be. Thal was leaning up against the post, he was looking at the on coming night sky with a lost look in his eyes. When he heard me approach, he turned to me and smiled.

"All set?" he asked.

"Yep," I replied as I adjusted my pack. "So, where are we going?" He walked into the Wyvern Post and started climbing the ramp. I followed close behind.

"From here, we're taking a Wyvern to the Barrens. We'll rest there and then in the morning it's off to Orgrimmar."

Man, I wished that's what had actually happened.

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**Sorry it's a few days late. I usually write these over the weekend, but the new semester has started and I have to get use to my new schedual. Plus I'm so effing sore from Gym class it's not even funny. I can't even sit down without hurting! Anywho, I cried when Torn and Quen said goodbye. I had written this chapter once before, but then my charger fell out (I need a new computer batery!) and I lost it all! I hope you like it, and please leave a review!**


	9. Butter Me Up

**Chapter 8:** Butter Me Up

***Disclaimer Goes Here***

Normally I'm afraid of heights, but looking up at the night sky as we flew from Thunderbluff to the Crossroads made me forget all about being thousands of miles above the ground. When we left they were just starting to appear. The sky was a magical ocean of blue and blacks and each star was like a little fire fly that had flown to high and got stuck. There was no moon out that night, just thousands of beautiful stars talking and laughing with each other. When we flew over the mountain it felt like I could reach out and touch them they were so close. As we descended they grew farther and farther away, but I was still mystified. Back in Hyjal everything had always been a ashy color, but out here everything was so clean and pure.

We landed at the Crossroads roughly fifteen minutes later. I thought it would be smaller than it actually was. Two roads ran through the town and crossed right at the middle. That was obviously how the town got it's name. On a hill to the east of the Flight Master was a look out tower with a few guards stationed on it. There was an inn near the intersection which is where Thal had secured rooms for the both of us. Many a merchant stand crowded the small settlement. Some where still awake trying to sell their wares, but the majority had disappeared for the night.

I walked away from the Flight Master and looked at the inn. It was a rather tall building. It's walls were made of sturdy wood and the roof was a collage of different animal hides. There were what seemed to be bone spikes at the tips and several Horde banner were at the top. While outside had been rather chilly, the inside was warm and inviting. There were several bear pelts on the floor and walls along with chairs and couches spread out along the walls. A fire burned in a small fire pit and the innkeeper sat behind an old worn down desk. The innkeeper looked up at us as we entered. He was an old burly Orc with skin a shade of green I had never seen before. It looked like something between brown and green. He had a bald head and short but sharp tusks. Thal paid him for two rooms and he pointed us down the hall. He gave me an odd look and I hurried after Thal.

Thal's room was the third on the right and mine was the one right across from it. He bid me goodnight and retired. I opened the door to my room, stepped in, and closed it behind me. My room wasn't as small as I thought it would be. There was a single bed with a chest at the end for my supplies. There was a small table near the bed with a burning candle on it. There was a crude wooden chair with a pelt draped over it near a small window. Next to that was a door that led into a bathroom. There was a tub for bathing and several different scented soaps. None of them smelled too good, but I didn't mind. This was much better than what they had back at the Twilight camps.

After I emerged from the bath, I found a small red package sitting on the end of my bed. I hugged my towel closer and looked around. Whoever left it here didn't seem to be in there area anymore, but it was best to be on my guard. I sat down on the bed and put the package on my lap. I carefully removed the string and red wrappings. Upon lifting the lid, I found a black silk nightgown, a new pair of mageweave shorts, a short sleeved linen blouse, a hair brush, and a jade hairpin. I took them out one at a time and stared in shock. How did these get here? Who put them there? I looked around again, more thoroughly. I checked under my bed, back in the bath, and even in the chest at the foot of my bed but found no one. There wasn't even a trace anyone had ever been in here. So strange.

I examined the nightgown first. It was wonderfully made. There wasn't an off stitch anywhere and I noticed it had my name sewn in near the hem. In beautiful golden letters it said "Quen'ala". I looked around once more just to make sure no one was watching me and then I put it on. The material gently glided across my skin and it fit just right. It wasn't too small or to large and it hugged me in all the right places. I grabbed the hair brush and went into the bathroom. The dress wasn't transparent at all and I thought it looked rather good on me. I took the brush and ran it through my hair a few times. It felt so nice to be clean and look good I finished brushing my hair, I took the rest of the gifts and put them in the trunk at the bottom of the bed. I put the hairpin next to my bed along with the brush, laid down, and fell right to sleep.

I woke up late the next day. I got up and cleaned myself and put the clothes I found yesterday on. Just like before, they fit me perfectly. My name wasn't sewn into these ones, thought. I put my boots on and wondered why there hadn't been any new boots in that package. I shrugged. That was one mysterious package. Just as I was about to head out, I remembered the hairpin that was near my bed. I picked it up and looked at it for a moment. It was a very beautiful flower made of small green gems. There were several small red gems in the middle as well. I placed it in my hair behind my ear. It looked very nice there. I couldn't tell if it was made of real gems or fake ones, so I decided I should probably take good care of it.

I left my room and knocked on the door that lead to Thal's. After several moments of silence, I knocked again. There was still no answer so I assumed he was probably up and about by now. I walked out of the inn and past the innkeeper who didn't even look up at me as I passed. The sun blinded me when I walked out side. It glared down at me with it's mocking eyes and forced me to look away. The heat was another thing I wasn't prepared for. Unlike last night where it was cool, there was now a scorching heat and the terrible smell of decaying flesh. After my eyes had adjusted, I looked around for Thal. He was near the stable master saddling the strangest creature I had ever seen.

I walked closer and got a better look. It was a rather large gray horse adorned with black and silver armor. It's hooves seemed to be surrounded by blue fire, but it didn't burn the ground. It had two very large curved horns and skulls were dangling from the sides of the armor. It had a lovely black tail that swished back and forth. Upon hearing my approach, it turned towards me and I saw it's icy blue eyes. I stopped in my tracks. Thal turned and noticed me frozen there.

"It's alright," he said motioning me over, "she won't bite."

I slowly approached the strange horse and put my hand out to her. She sniffed it and then stared at me with her icy eyes. Seeing that she made no move of aggression, I walked closer and put my hand on her nose. She nudged into me, which I took as a good sign.

"She likes you," Thal stated.

"What is she?" I asked.

"You've never seen an Acherus Deathcharger before?" I shook my head. "They're the mounts of us Death Knights. Fierce and loyal, they don't tend to like anyone else but their riders. Just like normal horses they all have different personalities, but always be cautious when approaching one."

Thal looked at me for a moment with a bit of confusion on his face. It vanished a second later. "Do you like your new things?" he asked.

I looked at him confused for a moment myself. "How did you..." I stammered. "Did you buy these for me?" I asked gesturing to my clothes.

"Buy them?" he asked with mach hurt in his voice. He finished fastening the saddle to his mount and jumped on. "How rude! I made those clothes myself."

"_You_ made them? But I thought you were a blacksmith."

He turned his mount to the north and looked at me from his perch. He looked so smug up there on his high horse. I had this strange urge to push him off, but I didn't because I doubted I'd be able to.

"I never said I was blacksmith. It's quite rude to assume things, Quen. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off."

"What? Where are you going?" I asked in disbelief. He wasn't just going to abandon me here, was he!

"I have business to attend to in the north. I should be back tomorrow afternoon, so be good and stay out of trouble!" He gave me a stern look and took off.

I watched his figure disappear down the road in disbelief. First in Thunderbluff and now here? Was he going to disappear every time we stopped somewhere? Gah! He said he would be back soon, but that's what he said last time and was gone for almost two whole days. What if he had given me that gift just so I wouldn't be too mad at him? By the Sun, I bet that's why he did it, too! That arrogant little...

Before I could vent my ever building rage some more, I stumbled and trip over something, or should I say some one. I fell forward and barely managed to stop my face from smacking into the dry dirt. With a groan, I turned myself over. My legs and hands got a bit scratched, but I wasn't bleeding any where. I brushed myself off and stood up.

"Watch where you're going, will ya!" a small cranky annoying voice yelled. A small green figure was brushing itself off in front of me. This...thing had a large green nose and strange ears. It was the size of a gnome and obviously male. It had scrunched up eyes and brown hair which it wore pulled back into a pony tail. It might have been the most disgusting thing I had ever seen.

"Excuse me, but you were the one who ran into me," I said crossing my arms across my chest.

"All you blood elves are the same!" he yelled at me. "All of ya are self righteous little ninnies who cry and complain when ya chip a nail!"

"What? Well you..." what exactly was this guy anyway? Some sort of gremlin? "you Gremlin's aren't any better!"

"Goblin!" he shouted at me.

"Whatever, same thing."

This comment got him red hot. I didn't know 'Goblins' took such offense to being compared to Gremlins. I mean, they do look very similar. He grabbed a dagger from his belt and jumped at me. I didn't know what to do, so I screamed and threw my arms out in front of me. Ha! Like that was going to help!

"Baaa?"

I looked down at my feet and there was a very cute fluffy sheep trying to give me evil eyes. I was shocked to say the least. The last time I had done anything like this was when Torn and I were escaping from Hyjal. Before I could ponder this mystery further, a loud heart filled laugh erupted from behind me. I turned to look and saw a rather large blue troll with purple hair pulled back into several pony tails bent over in a laughing fit. He was wearing a red and white robe with massive shoulder pads, dark bracers, and some leg wraps. He had a glowing blue sword strapped to his side and wore no boots. The sheep that previously was a Goblin baad it's annoyance. The troll fell over onto his back and continued to laugh.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

The troll lifted a three fingered hand and pointed to the Goblin, who had transformed and was now stomping off into the inn. After several long minutes, the troll was finally able to get his laughter under control. He wiped the tears from his eyes and stood up and stretched. When standing at his full height, he was extremely tall, like, twice my size. He wasn't the most muscular troll I'd ever seen, but he still wasn't someone I would want to mess with.

"Dat was a good one, girlie," He said coming up to me. He stuck out his hand to me and I gingerly shook it. "Da name be Tavoo, but you can call me Ta. Not many people can pull da wool over Gemen's eyes." He let go of my hand and laughed at his own joke. "Ya seemed ta not know what'cha were doing out dere. Surely you've 'ad some sort o' training, yeah?"

I shook my head. "Training for what?" I asked.

"Mage training!" he shouted slapping me on the back. "Ya pulled off a perfect pollymorph. Dat's talent dere!"

I looked at him like he was speaking a different language. It sort of sounded like he was with his accent. He looked at me for a moment and then set his hands firmly on my small shoulders.

"You've got real 'alent dere..." he paused, looking for my name .

"Quen."

"Quen!" he repeated. "Real 'alent. If I was joo, I'd see about some trainin'." He nodded firmly and let go of my shoulders.

"But I don't know any trainers."

He crossed his arms and looked away from me as if pondering this dilemma. I had the strangest feeling I had stumbled into some sort of trap. He turned his head back to me and gave me a toothy grin. "I could teach ya a ting or two."

"But I don't have any way to pay you..." I looked down.

"Dere be no need for payin'. Seeing Gemen made a fool of was payment enough for me. Besides, I got lots o' time ta kill! Now c'mon! Dere be lots to do, and not enough time in one day ta be doin' it!"

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**Thal's sort of being an ass in this story, what with always leaving Quen on her own. That's why we gots to get her some mage training! Also, I really suck at Troll accents so sorry if I butchered the crap outta it. The next chapter is all about Quen's mage training and how "Talented" she isn't! Till then!**


	10. Patience Is Not a Virtue I Posses

**Chapter 9:** Patience Is Not a Virtue I Posses

**Disclaimer: **World of Warcraft belongs to Blizzard Entertainment

**Just a quick note here before we begin. Due to some Test Prep, I don't have as much time to write as I would like, so for now there will be a chapter every 2 weeks instead of one every week. Also, sorry this one is so short. I wrote most of it last minute.**

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So far I had burn down five training dummies, frozen two guards (the first wasn't on purpose, but the second guy was just asking for it), turned Tavoo into a sheep, almost set the inn on fire with a Pyroblast gone wrong, and blinked right into a wall. The only thing I seemed really good at was setting things on fire, and turning people into sheep. Burning things made some sense, since we were taught how to use fire magic in the Academy, but when you tried adding frost magic and arcane magic in with the mix, things tended to get a little wild. My training hadn't been all bad though. I had successfully learned how to counter my opponents spells, pollymorph people when I wanted, cast a pretty powerful fireball, and burn people with my mind. Okay, I'm joking about the last one.

Tavoo realized I picked up on fire spells much faster than any of the other schools of magic, so we didn't practice those as much as the others. Arcane spells didn't give me much trouble, but I still couldn't blink in a straight line. Sometimes I would even blink backwards causing Tavoo to scratch his head in bewilderment. It was the frost spells that I struggled with the most. The most I could conjure was a cold breeze. Personally, I think it was the heat. Before I could even conjure a snowflake, the sweltering heat of the Barrens had melted it away into oblivion. I mentioned it to Tavoo and he seemed to shrug it off. Around midday we had a nice lunch of several assortments of frozen fruits Tavoo had bought while traveling. They were so juicy and delicious! The berries especially sent a chill through my body and cooled me down immediately. I tried to conjure a few more frost spells after I ate them, but had no luck what so ever.

Unfortunately after lunch Tavoo informed me that he had to return to Northrend and finish up a few things. While the fight with the Lich King had ended some time ago there were still things that needed to be attended to up there. I thanked Tavoo for everything he had taught me (or tried to teach me anyway) and waved goodbye as he portaled himself away. I had asked him to teach me how to do that, but he said I had to see a special trainer in any of the major Horde cities and have them teach me.

So there I was standing in the middle of the crossroads with no company, no money, no food, and no way of knowing if Thal would be back when he said he would. I thought about getting in some more practice since it was a bit after noon, but the idea didn't seem all that inviting. Not to mention the fact that it was one trillion degrees out. I retreated into my room at the inn for some much needed shade and a nice bath. On my way to my room I borrowed a map from the innkeeper.

I finished my shower and was looking at the map I borrowed trying to figure out where Thal had gone. He hadn't taken a flying mount, so it couldn't be too far away. He headed north from the Crossroads, and the only thing north according to the map was a place called Ashenvale. I pulled my hair back into a pony tail and conjured some bread to munch on. Thal had been gone for almost three and a half hours, meaning he was probably in Ashenvale already. He said he would be back tomorrow, meaning he could be looking for something deep in the forest, or maybe had a few errands to run. The latter didn't make sense since Ashenvale was mostly Alliance territory. Maybe he had gone to crack some Alliance skulls?

I looked at the distance from the Crossroads to Ashenvale. It seemed relatively long, but if I started now I might be able to make it before nightfall. I nodded to myself and conjured a few more loaves of bread for the road along with some water. I didn't have a mount to ride like Thal so it was going to take me much longer to get there. Saying I would be there by night was just a rough estimate and that would probably only happen if I walked at a fast pace. I packed my clothes and the water and bread in my pack along with the map. I'm sure the innkeeper wouldn't miss it. I secured the pack tightly onto my back making sure nothing could spill out. Before I left, I downed one of the potions Margarine had made for me. Sometime during my shower the effects of the last one had worn off. I walked out of my room and into the mail lobby, waving to the innkeeper as I left, though he didn't seem to care much. As soon as I walked back out into the sun, I wished I had something to block my eyes from the sunlight. I shaded my eyes with my hand and went to the northern exit.

"Headed out?" a guard called to me as I passed. I recognized him as the one who broke into a fit of laughter when I accidentally froze his friend. I nodded to him. "Well, be sure to stay on the road. The wildlife around here can get pretty nasty."

"Thanks," I smiled at him and took off.

By the time the Crossroads was just a hazy blur in the distance I must have drank three gallons of water and sweated it all out. This was a million times worse than on the hottest days in Hyjal when we had to train next to the lava pools. I don't know how anyone could put up with all this heat for a day, let alone weeks or months at a time! Time sort of started to blend together at that point. I remember passing a sign and seeing a small hut which was probably just the sun playing tricks on me. Then there was a large mountain that blocked the sun. I was so glad for that I walked really slow on that section of road and drank about another gallon of water which really made me have to go. That was really awkward so lets not talk about that. Next thing I remember was the sun was almost gone and there were some guards standing near the entrance to what I assumed was Ashenvale. I ran past them in my need for shade.

I have never seen so many trees in my life. You couldn't look around you without seeing some sort of greenery, which in my opinion was a more bluish tint than actual green. It was beautiful and breathtaking none the less. There was a certain calm that washed over me as I walked through the forest. I was so entranced by the blue-purple canopy overhead that when the area around me changed suddenly I almost didn't notice it. To my left was a clear cut path with almost no trees. Farther in the distance I could see the large stumps where it seemed someone had been cutting down the trees from this area. And then I felt the large surge of power to my right. There was a huge red archway leading down towards a tainted land. The ground turned a gross shade of brown and the trees were all wilted and decayed. I saw several strange looking red creatures I had never seen before in my like. All I could make out was that they walked upright like people. They must have been able to use magic, because I could feel the pull of shadow magic. It was teasing me with it's power, trying to lure me down there. I shook my self out of it's trance and hurried on.

After I left that place I had a strange feeling come over me. I kept checking around me every now and then, but I saw nothing. Small animals still scurried around and away from me, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being followed. I passed some odd carvings on large stumps. They were tormented faces with glowing blue eyes that sent shivers down my spine. As I rounded the corner I saw a small blue-green bridge crossing over a stream. I was about to rush towards it when I heard something. I looked around but didn't see anything. As I was about to take another step I heard it again, only louder this time.

My head slowly turned to look up at a small hill to my right. I stopped breathing. Sitting at the very top of that hill with eyes the color of a full moon was the largest cat I had ever seen. It was a shade of blue that easily blended in with the surrounding foliage. It had extremely long ears that were flickering ever so often and several strange beads hung from it's neck. I could feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins and my heart was hammering in my ears. I stared intensely into it's wild blue eyes and it stared back into mine. Fear was taking hold of my entire body and before I could register what had happened, the panther sprung towards me. I shrieked and backed away, barely missing having it's claws dig into my flesh. I flung my hands out in front of me taking the moisture from the air and dropping it around the creatures feet then freezing it. The cat seemed started for a moment and I took that chance to run. I hadn't even taken ten steps when I heard the ice shatter like glass behind me. As I approached the bridge, I chanced a glance behind me. The cat was running at me with all it's speed, a completely feral snarl ripping out from it's throat. In my panic, my foot caught on a loose board on the bridge and I tripped. I turned around in time to see the cat bracing it's muscles and springing off the ground and into the air right for me.

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**Sorry for the shortness again. I had a lot of blockage with this chapter and couldn't really find anything to fill it in with so it is sort of rushed. I promise the next one will be longer, and we'll finally learn WHY Thal is contantly leaving. Please review! Constructive Critsism is always welcomed!**


	11. Action is so Overrated

**Chapter 10: **Action is so Overrated

**Disclaimer: **World of Warcraft belongs to Blizzard Entertainment

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You know how if you read some sort of action book and the hero is being attacked, it usually says they close their eyes and wait for it? Okay, well first that's total bull. Why on earth would you want to close your eyes when you're possibly staring death in the face? Sure it's ugly, but I assume you'd be to afraid to even remember to breathe. Secondly, that's not what I did. I'm beginning to think I am most unusual. I know what you're thinking. "You're just NOW thinking this?" Anyway...

The panther braced it's muscles and sprang into the air. It's moon blue eyes shimmered with anger and something I didn't have time to recognize. It opened it's jaws wide and I noticed it's razor sharp incisors

that would be digging into my flesh momentarily. It landed gracefully on top of me with it's front two paws by my shoulders and it's back legs by my thighs. I could feel the warmth its body radiated. It let out another loud growl, almost a roar really, and bent it's head down to rip out my throat.

I really wish I could have closed my eyes. I didn't want to see this, but I was paralyzed with fear. I couldn't even find my voice to scream nor summon what little strength I had to fight the creature off. As it's head neared my neck, I could feel the tears streaming down my checks. I don't know when I had started to cry. Instead of a searing pain I thought I would feel when it ripped into my throat, something totally weird happened. The panther's nose touched my neck. It was such a shock I managed a gasp before it growled at me. It continued sniffing at me; all around my neck and then up into my hair where it finally found the comb Thal had given me. I could not only feel, but visually see it's whole body tense.

"Quen!" someone shouted. I would have turned to look, but it was kinda impossible right now. I could hear the hooves of Thal's mount coming to a stop, and then Thal himself jumping from it. The panther, still tense, looked away from the comb in my hair and toward where I had heard Thal. After what seemed like an eternity, the panther jumped away from me like I was the plague, bounded over the railing of the bridge and disappeared upstream. I was in such shock, I hadn't even noticed it was gone until Thal was gently shaking me back into reality.

"Quen," he said for what must have been the tenth time, "are you alright? Can you hear me?" I must have managed to nod or something because he stopped shaking me. "What happened?"

I don't know if I replied or not because right then I burst into tears and flung myself at him. It registered that after the initial shock, he embraced me and made some kind of attempt to soothe me. The intensity of the situation just hit me full on and all the emotions that were hidden behind the fear sprung forth all together afterward. I cried and wailed so loud I probably made him deaf. Eventually, I was able to get a hold of all my emotions and my wails died down into sobs and hiccups.

"Feel better?" Thal asked. I nodded against him. I sat there for a few more seconds before Thal picked me up with him and set me back on my feet. The whole front of his chest piece was soaked. It looked like he had fallen into the river. At any other time I probably would have found this funny, but right now I didn't have it in me to laugh. I followed him back across the bridge toward his mount. He jumped up first then pulled me up behind him. I could tell by the look in his eyes he had quite a few things he wanted to say to me just then, but considering my condition he thought better of it. I put my cheek against his back and wrapped my arms around his waist and we took off.

The ride back into the barrens was a quiet one. The only noise was the clop clop of Thal's mount's hooves on the ground. All the events of the day finally caught up with me and the gentle bouncing of the horse's body lulled me into a light sleep for a while. I woke up just as we passed the logging camp. My neck had become stiff and cramped from staying in that position for so long. I assumed I had been out for nearly an hour. I sat back and rolled my neck and shoulders. I let out a sigh. The dream I had been having wasn't exactly a nightmare, but it was scary none the less.

I was running through a pitch black forest. The only thing I could hear was the growling of the panther and it's footsteps running after me. It continued to get louder and louder until I tripped. At that point, the darkness turned into a brilliant bright light and I was in a beautiful forest full of fall colors. I looked up and the first thing I saw was Thal, though his back was turned to me. I went to get up, but then I noticed the mob that was standing in front of Thal. Various members of the Horde were there, yelling at him.

"Traitor!" "Kill it!" "You and the Abomination deserve to die!" "Traitor!"

The yells blended together; I could only make out so much of what they were saying. The one I heard the most though was "Traitor!".

"Thal, what's going on?" I asked. The hair tucked behind my left ear fell down, and then everything made sense. I could make out the green tint in it. My eyes were probably shinning their natural blue moon color as well. My secret had been found out, and the mob wanted to kill us both. Before anything else could happen I woke up.

Was I really an abomination? Was that imaginary crowd right? Torn's family didn't seem to think so when they saw the real me, but Margarine did quickly try to hide it. I knew it wasn't normal for a Blood Elf to have the eyes I had or the hair I did, but what was so bad about it that I had to hide it? Just because I was different, did that really mean I deserved to die? If so, then maybe that panther should have just killed me then. So why didn't it?

When we passed back into the Barrens I was still mulling it over. I mean, it just didn't make sense. It had me right where it wanted me and could have killed me even after Thal showed up. It could have killed me, but it didn't. Something about that whole encounter wasn't right. Even more strange was the panther itself though. Those strange blue eyes were like mine in so many ways and it had those beads around it's neck. That wasn't just some wild animal, that was for sure.

"You're awfully quiet," Thal suddenly said. "You sure you're alright?"

"Just thinking," I replied. I waited for him to say something else, but when he didn't I continued on. "Do you think there was something weird about that panther?" I asked.

"Weird how?"

"Those eyes it had. I've never heard of a cat with blue eyes like that and those beads around it's neck. It couldn't have been wild, not with those."

"You're right," he said. "That wasn't any ordinary panther. It was a druid."

"A druid?" I inquired.

"Druids are shapeshifters with an affinity for the plant an animal kingdoms. The one that attacked you was obviously skilled in the feral arts. Feral druids rely on their cat form and their sharp claws to attack opponents. They can also take the form of a bear and protect their allies. Ashenvale forest is home to many Night Elves of the Alliance so it's not unusual to see a few druids around there."

"Why didn't it kill me?"

"It would have had I not arrived in time," his tone took on a more serious nature. "What were you doing there anyway? Didn't I tell you to wait back at the Crossroads and not get into any trouble?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" I replied. "That's the second time you've just taken off without any sort of explanation or anything. You couldn't honestly expect me to just sit there for a whole day with little to nothing at all to do. I would have died of heat stroke and possibly boredom before you had gotten back!" There was a long silence before Thal spoke again.

"You're right."

"What?" I asked with a confused tone in my voice.

"I have been just taking off without letting you know where I was headed. I've been on my own for nearly sixteen years and have forgotten what it's like to have someone depending on me. I'm sorry."

"Sixteen years?" Coincidence much? "That's an awfully long time to be away from your family. Didn't you say you had a wife? I'm sure she's worried about you."

"It's complicated." He said it in a tone that said he didn't want to talk about it anymore right now. I was extremely curious, but I didn't feel like pushing my luck more than once that day.

"What time is it?" I asked finally noticing the sky for the first time. I was a light shade of blue.

"Nearly dawn," he replied. I hadn't noticed how much time had gone by nor how far we had actually traveled. I had only had near an hour of sleep, but I was wide awake.

"We'll be entering Durotar soon. Once we get to Razor Hill we can stop for a quick rest and head on to Ogrimmar. Hopefully we won't have long to wait for a Zeplin to Undercity. Ogrimmar isn't the friendliest city."

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**The good thing about finishing a chapter early is you don't have to worry about finishing it before deadline. The bad thing is I almost always forget to publish it until late at night! Hehe. Anyway, next chapter will probably be a filler and Quen will FINALLY be filled in (Heh, filler, filled in) a little on Thal's background. Also, I have a new poll on my page I would like you all to vote on! I appreciate it and please remember to leave a review!**


	12. To Undercity!

**Chapter 11:** To Orgrimmar!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own World of Warcraft

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Razor Hill wasn't the biggest place. It was almost like the Crossroads with it's inn, small blacksmith shop, and the various vendors and what not, but it was slightly smaller in size. Thal and I didn't linger for long there. There was no need for us to by anything since Thal had bought everything we would need back in the Crossroads. One thing I was grateful for was the shade. It wasn't nearly as hot in Durotar as it was in the Barrens, but the sun was still rising and I wasn't sure if it was going to get hotter or not. Razor Hill was built under some sort of cliff or maybe it was in a small chasm. I wasn't quite sure. There were many things I was unsure about then. What was really on my mind was what we we're going to do in Orgrimmar. So I asked Thal.

"There are some small things I have to pick up in Orgrimmar. Before you get upset about me leaving again, I'm not. I'm going to have you come with me this time. We also need to secure passage to Undercity via zeppelin," he explained. "Hopefully we won't have to wait long for the zeppelin to return, but if we have to we might be able to get a room at an inn there."

"Why do we have to go to this Undercity place?" I asked. We had left Razor Hill behind at that point.

"There is an orb there that will teleport us to Silvermoon City which is where your parents will most likely be if they're still alive."

"An orb that teleports?"

Thal sighed and began in on explaining to me how teleportation worked. He also explained that since Silvermoon was so far north, it was easier being able to use an Orb of Translocation to get there than flying and the distance was too short to need a Zeppelin. Since the Sin'dorei were so use to using magic anyway, it made it easier for them.

"What's a Sin'dorei?" Thal turned his head over his shoulder and I saw him looking at me from the corner of his eye.

"You're a Sin'dorei. It's what we Blood Elves were called before Kael'thas named us that"

"Who's Kael'thas?" Thal covered his face with his palm and sighed.

"It's a very long story and I don't have time to tell it right now. Once we get to Silvermoon, I'm sure you could go to the library or somewhere and look up our history. Look, we're here."

I hadn't really conjured up an image of Orgrimmar in my head and looking at the massive gate before me I knew if I had it wouldn't have even come close to what I saw. Two huge watch towers stood on either side of the massive brown wall. One was fully built while the other was still under construction. There were wooden platforms along the front of the wall where Orcs were busy scurrying about constructing the rest of the fortress. Supplies and such were scattered about the ground out front and there were even several people outside dueling with each other. The massive gate loomed over me as we approached. We entered the outside mouth and all light seemed to disappear save for a few torches. There was nothing but metal all around and the echo of Brusha's hoof prints.

As we approached the end of the tunnel, a loud commotion stirred. When we came to the exit I saw a city so large and complex it mystified me. The red and black banner of the horde hung from just about every building and there were hundreds of people shouting out what they were selling or looking to buy. The buildings were well made and had spiked edges all over. It was painfully obvious that this was the Orc and Horde Capital of Azeroth. The noise of an engine roared above me and I looked to see a massive flying ship with a purple balloon flying overhead. The streets were very crowded for this time of day. Thal led Brusha pas the intimidating building in the center and off to the right. The sun was blazing overhead, but there were several patches of hide overhead which offered plenty of shade. We walked through "The Drag" as Thal called it which was where the majority of profession trainers lived and where our first stop was located.

We stopped right outside of the Tailoring shop and Thal left me and Brusha outside while he went in and bought a few things. I didn't mind being left outside this time. There was no reason for me to go in and I knew Thal wouldn't take long. He reemerged from the shop and grabbed Brusha's reigns and led her along with me on her back.

"What did you get?" I asked honestly curious.

"Some thread and dye," he replied. "The trip to Undercity will take a week at the least and I'm hoping to get some work done on the way."

We walked a little further down the drag until Thal stopped us in front of a vicious looking path. Five large spikes shot out from the wall and curved in toward the entrance. Two guards stood idly by watching people come and go from the surrounding area. The cave had an eerie purple glow for as far as the eye could see. "We're going in _there?_" I asked. Thal chuckled and lead Brusha past the guards and into the engulfing shadows.

Glowing blue braziers lit the tunnel all the way through and it took us only a minute to reach the end. A ramp lined what appeared to be more large bone spikes led down into a small area with a purple theme to it. Further down I could see it went up again. There were several tents spread about in the room. "Why are we down here?", I asked Thal.

"This is where the darker members of society tend to hang out," he explained as we proceeded down the ramp. This place sent a strange chill down my spine. There was something enticing about it, but repulsing at the same time. "...such as Warlocks, Rogues, and Magi."

"Wait Magi? You mean mages?" I asked.

"Magi is the appropriate term, but yeah."

"Why are we going to see the mages? Er, Magi," I corrected myself.

"You did want to learn how to port while we were here, didn't you?" He stopped and looked up at me. I gave him a 'how did you know I was a mage' look and he laughed.

"Every one radiates some sort of power, even if they don't possess any themselves. It's how you determine what the others around you are and how powerful they may be. If you'd had popper mage training that would have been one of the first things you would have known. You also would have been taught how to conceal your power. Might as well have them teach you that while we're at it."

He led Brusha and I up the ramp I saw earlier at the farther end. There were three beings gathered in a half circle in the first largest tent. Sensing something odd, I turned my head to the left and saw what I guessed was a portal. It was a large swirling vortex with a picture of a green gate like structure in the center. The arcane magics that poured forth from it drew me closer and before I could realize what was happening I had jumped off Brusha and almost touched the portal.

"Don't touch that, fool!" came a harsh semi feminine voice. My trance was broken and I turned to see a large Orc woman wearing dark robes with strange patterns of enchantment on them. She had short dark hair which might have been a lighter shade than I saw, but the lighting down there was really bad. Did I mention that? Well, it was terrible just in case I didn't mention it. The Orc woman had a scowl on her face and her hands were placed on her hips. I had seen quite a few Orcs upon my arrive to Orgrimmar, but something about this one scared me more so then any of the others.

"Yes Mam!" I said and drew my hands to my sides.

The Orc looked to me and then Thal. She squinted her eyes as if there was a light blinding her and with a certain venom in her voice asked, "What do _you_ want?" I had a feeling that question was pointed toward Thal. She didn't say it as if she knew him. She said it more like she had something against him or more likely Death Knights in general.

"I seek training as a Mage," I said without hesitation. She gave me a once over and sighed.

"Alright, show me what you know and we'll go from there."

The next hour was filled with me showing Gija, which turned out to be the Orc's name, which spells I could preform and what I needed help with. Surprisingly, I wasn't as bad with my frost spells as I had been back in the Barrens, but she still gave me a few stern pointers on everything. The only new spell I was able to learn was Scorch. It was similar to Fire Blast, but more concentrated and less spread out after casting it. She also taught me how to conceal my aura, which is what Thal was talking about earlier. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Gija told me to close my eyes and concentrate. When I did, I could feel the threads of magic flowing off me in large waves. She told me to reach out and pull them all to my body and keep them there. After several attempts, I was able to round them all up and keep them safely glued to me. Gija said they would stay that way until I called on any of the three schools of magic. Then they would unwind themselves and whatever was around me would be able to feel my strength. After that, she sent me off to see Rundok, who was the Portal Trainer.

Learning how to Portal was like learning how to blink, only instead of ripping the fabric of space and appearing a few yards away, I would appear possibly thousands of miles depending on my location when I ported. Again, I had to concentrate on where I could feel the rips in time already created from many a mage porting themselves. While I could always open a new rip, it was easier for a beginner to use ones already in place. That's what Rundok said anyway. Trying to open a portal for myself was hard enough, I couldn't believe I would be able to do it for others once I gained more power. This is sort of what it felt like, to me anyway. First you have to picture yourself in a light purplish place with threads of lighter purple flowing around you. Next you have to look around, or sense, where there are small breaks in these threads. They look and feel like a small tear in cloth. I had to grab both ends of the tear and stretch it so it was big enough for me to fit my whole body through. I lost the rip several times because I have "butterfingers" according to Thal. On my fifth try I finally got it, but since we were already in Orgrimmar, I didn't go very far.

"Good," said Rundok. "I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but if you have special runes it makes teleporting a lot less complicated, since the runes do the hard part for you."

"What? I did all that for nothing?" I asked frustrated.

"It's always good to learn, but yeah, pretty much." he said with a shrug.

"Well, where can I find these runes?" I asked.

"Anyone who sells reagents should have em, just ask around."

"We could probably buy some on the Zeppelin to Undercity," Thal put in.

We bid both Gija and Rundok farewell and headed out of there and back into the Drag. From there I kinda go lost in directions, but I know we went back towards the main gate, up an elevator, past some strange lion scorpion bat things, into a tall tower, up like five flights of stairs, and onto a large boat like structure with a large purple balloon on top to keep it a float in the air. We made it just in time, for the thing was about to depart. There were only three others on besides Thal and myself. An undead fellow who wasn't the freshest person I had ever met, a plate clad goblin, and a quiet Troll shaman. It was probably for the best, since the quarters in which we were staying weren't that big. The Troll and Thal had doubled up in one since neither wanted to be with the Undead who got his own cabin which left me with the last one.

We pulled away from the tower and soared through the skies above Orgrimmar. We flew over the city for a moment to gain altitude and then soared through the mountains of Durotar and out onto open plains. I was so awed by the sky above me and the things around me I hadn't even thought to look down. When I finally did, I regretted it instantly. The ground was so far down and everything looked so small! I became weak in the knees and sank down onto the floor. I didn't feel so good at that moment.

"Have I ever mentioned I'm afraid of heights?" I asked looking up at Thal.

He smiled down at me and then let out a howling laughter.

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**So, I had to post this chapter earlier than planned because next week is the week we're taking our Graduation Tests. I hadn't meant for it to work out that way when I started doing an update once every two weeks, but that's how it did. Anyway, after next week updates should go back to being at one week intervals. Also I would like to say this was one of my favorite chapters because of all the detail I tried to put into it. I wanted something longer than usual, but it came out to be about the same length. Finally, I would like to let you all know that I have a poll up on my page about which story I should work on after this one. Please vote and leave a review here! Much appreciated!**


	13. Late Night Visitor

**Chapter 12: **Late Night Visitor

***Insert Disclaimer Here***

**Before we start, I just want to say that since my Testing is NOW OVER (WOOT) Things should go back to normal, meaning one chapter a week!**Soon after the Zeppelin had departed from the dock, I went downstairs and found my cabin. While it wasn't what I'd been hopping for, I decided I would rather be down here then up on the deck constantly reminded why I hated heights, and now Zeppelins. The cabin was rather small, but I supposed if they had made it any bigger it would be the only one able to fit on the ship. There was a small bed in the far right hand corner with one pillow at the head and an empty night stand next to that. A small mirror hung on the wall next to the door and there was a chest at the end of the bed just as there had been back in the inn at the Crossroads. The whole left wall was seemingly empty. There wasn't even a window in sight, something I wasn't sure I was happy about or not. On the one hand, I wouldn't have to worry about accidentally looking outside and seeing how far above the ocean we were, but on the other hand I wouldn't be able to look outside to see... Well, the ocean. Since there wasn't much to see anyway, I guess it was a good thing there was no window.

* * *

I tossed my stuff onto the chest and plopped down onto the bed and looked at the ceiling. We were just a week away from Silvermoon, the city of the Blood Elves. What would it be like, living there? What would the city in general be like? I have neglected to ask Thal anything at all about it. I pondered getting up and asking him about it, but I decided against it. I wasn't that curious. He was probably busy doing something anyway. Besides, we were going to be there in a week. My curiosity could be sated then. A week. Man, I still couldn't believe that was all it was going to take! Before I could marvel at this some more, my stomach made a loud noise saying that it was time to eat. I hadn't noticed how hungry I really was. It was only to be expected since the last time I ate was when we had passed through Razor Hill. Just as I got out of bed, there was a knock on my door.

I walked over to the door pushing a stray strand of hair behind my ear. I turned the knob and pulled the door open to be greeted by Thal. More importantly, though, was that he had food with him! He held a loaf of bred in his hands along with some small purple berries.

"Though you might be hungry," he said handing them to me. I gratefully took them.

"Thanks," I replied, motioning for him to come in. I popped a berry into my mouth, rolled it on my tongue for a moment, and then bit into it. It was very sweet and juicy with a bit of a sour after taste. Very delicious in my opinion. I noticed that instead of taking a seat on my bed, Thal had opted for leaning against the wall. So I sat on the bed instead. I noticed a small sack hanging from his belt.

"What's that?" I asked plopping another berry into my mouth.

He looked down at it and then his face lit up. "Oh, this?" He unhooked it from his belt and tossed it to me, causing me to drop the food he had given to me onto the bed in order to catch it. "These are those Runes of Teleportation the mage trainer was talking about. I picked a few up from the vending machine on the way here."

I wasn't sure what a vending machine was, but I guessed it was that strange silver contraption down the hall near the stairs. There were two of them and they both sold many different items. I opened the bad and looked inside. There were roughly ten gray stones in it, each with an identical golden marking on them. I closed the bag up and placed it with my other belongings. "Thanks."

There was a strange awkward silence for the next few moments as I continued to eat the food Thal had brought me. He stayed leaned up against the wall and seemed to stare at me, as if waiting for me to do something. It made eating extremely hard. I felt like a scolded child who was sent to her room as a punishment and just to make sure I didn't try anything, my father had been sent in to watch me. Did that mean I saw Thal as a father figure? Besides Torn, he was the only father figure I knew, and even Torn had been more like a friend trying to guide me onto the right path. That made Thal the closest thing to a father I had. Did he even have any kids?

"What makes you ask?"

I was so shocked I jumped off the bed and dropped what little remained of my dinner. Oh my god, had I said that out loud? That's never happened to me before! One look at Thal's face and I knew I had. I mentally slapped myself.

"Nothing," I replied. I smacked myself again. This was my chance to find out a little more about Thal. He would be more open to it now than before right? Maybe that's why he hadn't left? I wasn't about to miss my chance. "Well, actually I was just thinking about you're the closest thing to a father figure I've ever had and that made me wonder if you had any children of your own...?"

He avoided looking at me for a moment before sighing. Turning back to me he spoke. "One. She's no longer...," he paused, "with us... anymore." I could tell by the tone in his voice it hurt him to speak of her, and I suddenly wished I hadn't asked.

"I'm sorry," I said, my voice just above a whisper. Thal turned to leave and I remembered something I had been meaning to ask him. "Before you go, where is the bathing area on this thing?"

He turned to me with an almost invisible smile on his face. "There isn't one," he replied in all seriousness.

My jaw almost fell to the floor. "What? Then, where am I suppose to take a bath or..."

He shrugged. "Eh, you'll manage. Why did you think I didn't bunk with the undead? He smells bad enough now, but in a week I'll be they'll need to fumigate this whole zeppelin." With that he was gone.

After a moment I laid back down on my bed and mentally screamed. One week seemed like an eternity now. This trip just went from great to _FANTASTIC!_

* * *

Occasionally through the extent of the week I would find my way up onto the deck where I would conjure up snow balls and toss them over the edge of the ship. Sometimes I would be able to see them hit the water while other times I couldn't. I once tried to do the same with a fireball, but the heat almost burned my hands and I ended up chucking it over the edge. Watching it fly, I noticed from the corner of my eye there was something flying in the air. At first I thought it was someone on a flying mount, but that theory was soon thrown out. The mount would be too tired to fly across the ocean and it looked too small to be wyvern or gryphon. The just left a bird, but a big one at that. It was really just a spec in the distance, but things tended to be smaller the farther away you were. I thought nothing of it at first, since birds tended to fly long distances all the time. By the third day I found it quite strange since birds usually flew in flocks, but this was the only bird I had seen. I went to sleep early that night, knowing once I woke up we would be in Undercity.

I woke up with a start that night. I sat up in bed and looked around my room. It was too dark to see anything, so I lit the candle next to my bed with a quick fire spell and looked around. Nothing. Then I heard it again; the sound of muffled footprints and a door closing down the hall. I got out of bed dressed in nothing but my black nightgown. I decided against taking the candle with me since if someone was out there doing something they shouldn't have been, the light from the candle might have given me away. Slowly I opened my door and peaked out, but found the hallway empty. I quietly slipped out of my room and carefully shut the door behind me as to not make a sound. Tiptoeing down the hall, I made my way around the corner and stopped in my tracks when I heard voices. I quietly made my way toward them. When I neared the back balcony, I could just make out what the voices were saying. Staying behind the wall so I wouldn't be seen and could make a quick escape down the hall if need be, I listened.

"What are you doing here!" the first one hissed. It sounded like Thal! What was he doing up this late at night and who was he talking to?

"I've found something!" the other one hissed back, clearly feminine. It was hard to tell the race just by a voice, but it sounded similar to a female Blood Elf.

"What?" Thal asked back earnestly.

There were sounds of a papers being unfolded and then the female voice said, "Look!" More sounds of paper rustling.

"What is it?"

"It's some sort of initiation papers. I can't make out the name, but look at the date! That can't be a coincidence! It's the same date that-"

"She was taken..," Thal finished. Who were they talking about? What was going on?

"Yes, and look down here. The death date is undated."

"How do you know you just didn't snatch it up before they could date it?"

"Thal, you and I both know Twilight's Hammer has strict policies about these things. Had she died, this would have been dated hours after her death. Yes, I know I still could have snatched it before they had a chance to date it, but the chances of that are slim."

Twilight's Hammer! What did they want with Twilight's Hammer? Who was this they were looking for? There were so many questions floating around in my head, I missed what was said next. Before I knew it, Thal was saying goodbye to the mysterious voice. My eyes widened in panic and I zipped back around the corner. There was a tugging pain at my head and I winced, but kept going. I rushed back to my room as quietly as possible and shut the door behind me. I took a few deep breaths before plopping onto my bed. There were so many questions going through my head I was hardly able to get a wink of sleep.

* * *

Thal stood there for a moment more and watched her figure disappear into the night sky. He sighed. While she had indeed found an important clue, it didn't give them much of a lead. She said she had thoroughly searched the camp she found the document in and others near it, but had seen no sign of Ashenta. Thal ran his hands through his hair and turned to return to his room. As he rounded the corner, something caught his eye. Caught in a nail that was barely sticking out, were several strands of rich blonde hair. What made his eyes widen considerably, though, was the tint of green he saw when he held all the strands together.

* * *

**Dun DUN DUN! =D You love me, right? XD So naturally Thal's gana get curious, and Quen is going to have a mishap of her own in the next chapter. Ooooh I can't wait! Please review and remember Constructive Critisism is welcomed. Also, check out the poll on my page and V O T E!**


	14. Orb of Overly Decorated

**Chapter 13: Orb of Overly Decorated**

**Disclaimer: World of Warcraft belongs to Blizzard Entertainment.**

I had been up all night trying to figure out who Thal had been talking to and just what it was they were talking about. I had figured out some things for certain, but there were just so many missing clues! It was almost like taking a test you hadn't studied for. Thal had been talking to a girl, that was certain. Even more so was the fact that he was worried about her when she showed up. She hadn't sound injured in anyway, so he wasn't worried because she was hurt. He was probably worried because she had snuck onto the Zeppelin. Why he would be worried about that I had no clue. If she was found it wasn't like they could just throw her off! They were miles above sea for goodness sake! The two of them had been talking about the Twilight's Hammer and someone's initiation papers. Every member had them. The fact that there had been no death date written on it made the female sound hopeful. Hadn't they mentioned something about being taken, too? Gah! It was all too much!

I sat up on my bed and grabbed my pack from the chest at the foot of my bed. After some searching, I pulled out my hair brush and absently started running it through my hair. That usually helped calm me down or get rid of headaches and today was no different. Setting the brush aside, I fished out a change of clothes and got dressed. After slipping my boots on, I grabbed my hair pin from my bag. I was just about to slip it into my hair when I caught my reflection. Gasping in shock, I dropped the pin and it clattered to the floor. I grabbed a lock of hair next to my face and looked at it.

It had changed again! No doubt my eyes were different, too. How long had it been like this? Last time it changed, it had only been a day or two since I had drank one of Margarine's potions. No one had stared at me in shock or horror recently, so I guessed it had only changed back to it's normal coloration as of late. That thought killed a bit of panic. What I was really worried about was how long the effect of the potion lasted. Before it had only been a few days, but this time it had been over a week. I was sure I had drank the same amount as last time, so why had it lasted longer? Maybe potions were just weird that way. Though, not knowing when the effect would fade really sucked.

Just as I bent to pick up the pin I had dropped earlier, there was a knock on my door. I froze.

"Quen? Are you up? It's Thal," Thal said from the other side of the door.

I could feel my heart beat pounding in my ears. What if he opened the door and saw me like this? In a panic, I grabbed the pin, nearly cutting myself on it in the process, dropped it back into my bad and pulled out one of the potions. I hastily uncorked it and poured the contents down my throat. Carelessly tossing the vial back into the bag, I fished my hair pin back out and watched my relection.

"Quen? Are you alright?"

"Fine!" I shouted back, a bit too loud.

"You don't sound fine to me," he replied through the door. "I'm coming in!"

NO NO NO! My eyes had changed back, but my hair hadn't! "CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE!" I chanted in my head, hoping it would somehow help. The door knob began to wiggle and then clicked. The door seemed to creak open. Hastily I put the pin into my hair and tied my hair back into a pony tail. The door fully opened and Thal stepped in. My eyes were wide and full of panic. Thal looked at me suspiciously.

"You okay? You look a bit...panicked."

"Uh huh!" I said bobbing my head up and down, causing the pin to slip out. I picked it up from the bed and looked at myself. My hair seemed to have gone back to normal. Thank goodness! Crisis averted! For now anyway... When I looked back up, I noticed Thal had something moon blue draped over his arm. "What's that?"

"This?" He looked down at his arm and then held the cloth out to me. "It's a robe. I made it for you," he said handing it to me. "It should enhance your mage powers. From what I saw when we were in Orgrimmar, you'll need all the help you can get."

I would have been offended at that statement had the robe he handed to me not been so... well, gorgeous! It was similar in shape to the nightgown he had made me, only this was made from a different material, one that was sturdy as to not rip, but very comfortable to the touch. It had amazing long sleeves with a neckline that was cut low, but could still be considered modest. My attention was again brought to the coloring. It reminded me of the color of my eyes; my real ones. I noticed small pieces of lime green thread weaved in a curvacious pattern. The threads began to glow brighter when I ran my fingers over them as if reacting to my touch.

"You _made_ this? In the span of a _week_?" I asked.

He shrugged as if it was no big deal. To him it might not have been, but I loved it. "Thanks," I said a tad breathless. I looked from him and back to the robe. Looking back at him, I made small shooing motions with my hands indicating that he should leave so I could try it on. He chuckled a bit, but didn't argue.

"We should be arriving in Tirisfal Glades soon, so don't take forever," he said before exiting. I was only half listening. As soon as the door was shut and his footsteps had faded from my hearing, I quickly undressed and redressed in the robe. Just like the nightgown, it fit my frame perfectly! I marveled at it for a moment, idly wondering how he knew just what size to make it. Storing the question for a later date, I packed up my things, grabbed my bags, and headed up onto the deck.

It was almost noon by the time I caught my first glimpse of Tiristfal Glade. It was a dull gray place with creepy trees and deadly shadows looming everywhere. It seemed to be Hallows End here every day of the year. Just looking at the lack of color dampened my mood and gave me chills. In the distance I could make out the form of some sort of tower. As we drew closer to it, I realized that must have been where we were docking. It was then I noticed another tower with a zeppelin already docked at it.

Thal, myself, and the others present on the trip double checked to make sure we had all of our belongings. I tried really hard not to barf once I caught wind of the undead. He smelt bad before, but a week with no bath multiplied the smell ten fold. It reminded me of how I, too, was in dire need of a bath. The zeppelin started to slow as we approached the dock. I could tell everyone was itching to get off. It seemed to take an eternity before we finally docked and were given the okay to disembark from the vessel. I practically sprinted down and around the stairs trying to get away from that awful smell. When I reached the bottom and was sure I was far enough away, I took a giant breath of air and started coughing. The air tasted foul! I hadn't noticed before, but the air here smelt almost as bad as the undead himself.

Thal was the last one to come down from the tower. With Brusha in tow, we walked up the large stone walkway towards what I thought would be the entrance of the city. After walking past the arch, turning a few corners, and walking past an old bell, I was met with an empty and crumbling courtyard.

"This is it?" I asked dumbfounded. "Where's the city?"

"Underground," Thal replied. He had walked ahead a ways and I jogged to catch back up with him. I saw a small drawbridge ahead and saw a side tunnel. I thought that was where we were headed, but when Thal turned to the right I was confused yet again.

"Where are we going? Isn't the city that way?" I asked pointing toward the opening.

"Yes, but the Orb of Translocation is this way."

I sighed and followed him up a flight of steps. Past another archway (What was with this place and arches?) was another wide open space. Sitting all the way near the back was a large blood red orb held up by what appeared to be very decorative golden piping. The piping was attached to a white pedestal with red stone curved around it. That sat on top of a red and golden platform. The red and golden platform sat on another, larger platform that glowed a bright red color. All in all, I thought it looked like an over decorated cake. It was impressive none the less.

"That's it?" I asked, wonder in my voice. Thal nodded and we walked towards it. "So, hows it work?"

"You just touch it and you'll be transported to Silvermoon," he answered.

"That's it?" I was disappointed. "There's no magical incantation or anything?"

"Well, I suppose you could say something if you wanted, but it would probably just make you look ridiculous."

I watched as Thal placed his hand on the orb. It began to glow in the middle and before my very eyes, Thal seemed to be _sucked _into it! Both him and Brusha had just disappeared! My eyes widened in disbelief and I walked closer to it. Tentatively, I stuck out my hand before pulling it back to my body. Was this going to hurt? Oh, I hoped not! Slowly I stuck my hand back out and gingerly touched the orb. A strange tingling sensation filled my entire body before I felt myself being yanked into the unknown.

* * *

**So, this chapter was actually shorter than most, which is strange because it seemed to belonger when I was typing it. Again, just another filler. Boo! I'm thinking there might be like, three more chapters at the minimum until this is over. It all depends on what I can fit into ...oh wait... no five. Five at the minimum. Yes. Okay! So, this is a filler and then the next one stuff actually happens. OMG NO WAY! Ugh, it won't put the thingy at the top in the middle like it like it. Oh well...**


	15. The Home Thats Not Quite Home

**Chapter 14: **A Home Thats Not Quite Home

**Disclaimer: **World of Warcraft, along with some of the NPCs mentioned, belong to Blizzard Entertainment

* * *

Traveling through the time space continuum, or at least that's what I assumed it was, was very disorienting. I couldn't tell up from down or left from right. The fact that everything around me was a tunnel of various blues and purples didn't help at all. The cool part was that I felt like I was flying. My body had no weight and I was floating through a disorienting tunnel. That was probably the highlight of my day. Just as soon as it started, though, it ended.

At first my vision was black and I thought I might have gone momentarily blind. After blinking several times, my eye sight began to return to me. When the color red hit my eyes it felt like I was looking straight into the sun. I closed my eyes and became light headed. With my eyes closed, I lost my balance and stuck a hand out to try and keep myself righted. Thal gabbed my hand then to help steady me. Slowly I reopened my eyes and my vision refocused. Looking around, I noticed we were actually in a small, cylinder shaped room standing on a platform that held an orb similar to the one that had teleported us here. There seemed to be a theme of red, gold, and blue in this room.

We took a few steps down the ramp before I gave Thal the okay to let me go. I had recovered from the experience of using the orb, but I was still feeling light headed. We stepped onto a small balcony over looking a circular room. This was also red, gold, and blue. I had the strangest feeling this was going to be a reoccurring theme within the city. We came down the ramp, walked through the seemingly empty room, passed through the curtains, and were greeted by a long row of Silvermoon City guards. They all stood with their backs straight and looked across to the guard opposite them. They stood a long side a flowing red carpet. As we stepped out into the sunlight for the first time, I finally saw it; Silvermoon City. Or part of it anyway.

It was beautifully breathtaking. Just as I had thought, red and gold were a reoccurring theme here, but the blue didn't seem to appear as much. There were wonderful off white blocks under my feet, strange arcane towers floating over my head, and shops, greenery, fountains, people, and magic all around me. I was so amazed by everything! It must have been strange to see a Blood Elf in their home city gawking at everything like they were a kid in a candy store aloud to buy anything they wanted. We walked down the ramp and I got a closer view of the fountain as we walked around and down past it. It was rather large, and not at all circular. It was actually sort of rectangular. I looked at my reflection and was glad to see my hair nor my eyes had changed color yet.

We walked down through a darker, scarier section of the city. I saw a sign hanging from a wall proclaiming it to be "Murder Row". Not the most welcoming name, I'll admit, but it definitely fit. I made a mental note to stay clear of this place during the night time. Already there were shady characters lurking about in the corners and it wasn't even dusk. I scooted closer to Thal as we came across a large statue of a Blood Elf man in lavish robes.

"Who's that?" I asked as we walked around it. It seemed you could walk around almost everything in this city.

"Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider," he replied. I remembered him saying that name before. I made a small note to find some history books and look that name up. We entered out into another long lane. On my right was a small patch of greenery with a round tent and a female Tauren reading a book. There was another statue of Kael'thas straight ahead of us, but we opted for the path to the left instead. After a while we took another right turn into a building. Thal tied Brusha ouside and then pushed aside the blue transparent curtains and I walked in.

It was another inn, only this one was more to my liking. There were two tables set up with several high backed chairs pushed in at them. There was a counter set up near another door, which probably led back outside, with a pretty young Blood Elf female with long brown hair and round ruby red (Say tat five times fast, I dare you!) earrings leaning on it looking utterly bored. When she saw us enter, her face perked up considerably and she greeted us warmly.

"Welcome! Make yourselves at home! Would you like something to quench your thirst? How about a home cooked meal?" she asked. She was very enthusiastic, that was for sure.

"That would be lovely!" Thal replied, setting his things down by a table. I did the same and sat down. "Could we also get a room for the night?"

"Of course, of course!" she said with a smile. Thal paid her for a room and she handed him a key. "Now, what can I get for you weary adventurers?"

"Just some fresh water for me," Thal replied. The innkeeper looked at me expectantly.

"Uh, what do you have?" I wasn't quite sure what to ask for. Back at the academy we'd almost always had bread, cheese, and stag meat with the occasional fruits and vegetables.

"Oh all kinds of things!" she fetched a slip of paper from behind the counter. "Here, take a look. I'll be right back with your water." She gave me the paper and disappeared into the back.

She wasn't kidding when she said all kinds of things. They had fruits, bread, meat, pies, cakes, vegetables, cheeses, juice, tea, water, milk, and a few things I hadn't even heard of, let alone knew we edible! Browsing through the menu made my mouth start to water. I hadn't had a decent meal in ages and everything sounded so good. Thal sat down and she soon returned with his water. By then I had decided on a few things.

"Know what you want?" she asked.

"I think I'll have some roasted quail, soft banana bread, and some moonberry juice if that's alright?" I looked to Thal and he nodded. He was paying after all. The innkeeper nodded to herself, smiled, and disappeared into the back once more. After a moment of silence, I spoke up. "So, what's going to happen now? I mean, you obviously can't stay here with me until I find a place and can support myself, and I don't want to be a burden for any longer than I have to be. Have you thought of what's going to happen now?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, I have given it quite a bit of thought, actually. I have a friend in town who's a scribe, if you're willing to learn, I'm sure she would be willing to teach you the trade. You're right, though. I won't be able to stay for much longer than a day. I can give you some money to get you on your way. My friend might even be willing to rent you a room at her house if you make a good impression."

"What? Money? I don't think I could accept that! I mean, you've done so much for me already just by bringing me here! I doubt I'd ever be able to pay you back."

"Don't you worry about it. It's not like I'll go broke just by giving you a few gold to help you out. Besides, if you become a good scribe you could probably pay me back in a matter of months if you really felt you needed to, which you don't. Besides, I've gotten something out of this journey too." Before I could even comment on his last statement, he finished his glass of water and stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to pay my scribe friend a visit. It would be awfully rude to come barging in with out warning and ask her to take you on as an apprentice, wouldn't it?" With that he was out the back door before I could even utter a word.

Right after he left, the innkeeper returned with my order. For a second I panicked since I would have no way to pay her for the food, but then I remembered Thal hadn't taken his things with him. No doubt he had money somewhere in his bags I could pay her with. After all, he said it was alright for me to order this. I reached down fished out a gold piece from his bag. She sat the food down on the table and I handed it to her. She put it in the small sack around her waist, then fished out some change and handed it to me.

"Where did your companion go?" she asked looking around.

"He had to go see a friend about something," I replied taking a bite of the bread. It was heavenly!

"Oh. Do you mind if I sit here with you?" My mouth was full of food at the moment, so I just shook my head and she took the seat next to mine. "How is it?" She propped her chin in her palm and looked at me.

"Wonderful! I've never had such wonderful cooking!" I managed in between bites. She laughed.

"I can imagine, what with you always traveling about, never having time to stop for a break in between quests and battles and what not."

"Well, actually, I'm just a novice mage," I took a chug of the juice, which was also delicious. "I haven't seen too many battles, nor places, and I haven't taken on a single quest yet."

"Really?" She looked surprised. "Those robes make you look like a seasoned warrior!"

"You think?" I stopped stuffing my face and looked down at myself. I guess in a way they kinda did. "Thanks! Thal made them for me."

"Thal? You mean the older man you were with? Is he perhaps your brother or a possible cousin?"

I must have given her a strange look because she tried to hide a laugh. "No, we're not even related! Why do you ask?"

"Could have fooled me! You two look quite alike!"

"For real? I'd never noticed..." Which was true. I had never really looked before, but I guess there were a few features that we had in common. Our noses were very similar and I definitely had his eye shape, but not color. At that point I realized we were having a pleasant conversation and I hadn't even introduced myself! "Oh! My name is Quen'ala by the way, but just call me Quen for short."

She stuck her hand across the table and I shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you Quen! My name is Jovia."

Something sparked when our hands touched, and I think that's when I knew Jovia and I were going to become very very good friends.

* * *

Thal had made his way out of the inn and into The Bazaar. This was where many of the merchants had there shops and also where his friend had her house. It was late in the afternoon by now, and Thal was hopping she would be home instead of at her shop across from the Sunfury Spire. That was such a long walk away. Down in the southeastern part of The Bazaar sat Zantasia's two story house. He walked up the stairs and onto the sidewalk. He paused a moment to consider what would happen if he caught her in a bad mood, but knocked on her wooden door anyway. After a moment, it opened to reveal a slender, middle aged elf with a dark robe on accompanied with a black wizards hat. She looked at him for a moment and smiled. A good start.

"Thal! What a pleasant surprise! It's been way to long! To what do I owe this pleasure?" she asked.

"I have a favor to ask," he replied casually. Her smile faded into an angry scowl.

"I haven't seen you in years and the first time you decide to stop in and let me know your still alive, you have a favor to ask!" she was practically fuming now. He could see the smoke coming out of her ears. He gulped. Suddenly, her rage turned into bubbling laughter. "Same old Thal! Well, don't just stand there! Come in, come in!" He let out a relieved sigh and stepped into her living area.

Zantasia's house actually looked smaller from the outside than it actually was. Magic was funny that way. The living area was spacious, with two couches, a small glass table, and a few chairs. There were several family portraits on the wall and a bookshelf in the corner. Through a doorway he could see her kitchen, which looked as if it could hold twenty people comfortably. Thal took a seat in one of the chairs and Zantasia handed him some tea. She took a seat on the chair across from him.

"So, what can I do for you? Need some Glyphs? Maybe a few herbs or something?" she asked.

"No, actually. This is a much bigger favor than that." he replied.

"Oh, really? Well, quit beating around the bush already and tell me!"

"I've taken it upon myself to find a young elf a home here in Silvermoon and help her get settled. I can't stay here much longer than a day, so I was hoping you could take her on as your apprentice. Teach her the craft and possibly let her stay here with you until she's gathered her bearings and can branch out on her own."

She sat her tea cup down on the table and scratched her chin for a moment. "Is she any good at inscription?"

"No idea. Doubt she even knows what a scribe is," he replied.

Zantasia's eyes shown with excitement. "Ooh! A challenge! I haven't had a good challenge in ages! How old is she?"

"Roughly sixteen is my guess. I've never actually asked."

"Oooh! Even better! A young mind! Oh, this will be perfect! Of course I'll do it! Yes, she can stay here and learn with me as long as she's a good student and doesn't act out. I don't like troublemakers you know."

"Thank you, Zany. You can add this to the growing list of things I owe you." He stood up and walked toward the door to let himself out.

"Before you go, I have something to ask." Her voice had changed from overly excited to deadly serious. Thal stopped, his hand on the door nob. "Have you found her yet?"

The question shocked Thal for a moment before he sadly replied. "No, but we'll never stop looking." With that, he left to fetch Quen.

* * *

**This has been a really slow week for Fanfic updates. Seriously! Like, only 4 of my 10000 alearted stories updated. Made me very sad.**

**I almost put the part where Quen and Zan meet in this chapter, but then I decided against it since adding that to the next one would make it longer. This is actually the longest chapter I've written so far and I think it's one of my favorites. If you're curious, there's a small group of people who actually know Thal and Seth had a child and lost her and Zan is one of these people. The others include Seth's immediate family (Seliea + Cy) and Gimbly. Didn't want to confuse anyone there. Anyway, please review and vote on the poll I have on my user page! Thanks a bunch! Also, I finally got my chest piece off of Magmaw 10 reg this weekend! Score! Course, I was the only one who rolled for it, so...**


	16. Moving On

**Chapter 15: **Moving On

**Disclaimer: Do I really have to say this again? I don't own World of Warcraft! And I'm glad I don't! (Cuz it would suck if I did)**

* * *

When Thal returned to the inn that evening, he found Quen and Jovia thoroughly enjoying themselves playing a simple game of cards. He stood in the doorway for a while, not wanting to disturb them. They seemed to get along so well, almost like two old friends who had just met again after a long time apart. He also had this sort of feeling towards Quen, though it hadn't been instant. It must have formed some time back in Ashenvale, when Seth almost killed the poor girl by accident. He had meant to ask Seth about that incident when she had surprised him on the zeppelin, but it had slipped his mind. Thal felt as though he had known her for a long time and had just been reunited with her after a long absence. It was so strange. Thal also felt very protective of her and while he normally passed this off by telling himself it was because she was his charge, he knew that that wasn't the entire reason. He was about to ponder these matters further when he noticed both girls were staring at him.

"You're back," Quen said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

Thal mentally shook himself out of his thoughts and nodded. "Thank's for keeping her company," he said to the innkeeper.

"My pleasure! You're welcomed here anytime." Thal picked up Quen's things from where she had put them and then paid the innkeeper for the meal. The girls said goodbye to one another and Thal and Quen departed from the inn. They walked for in silence for a good while. Both of them were silently reflecting on the fact this would more than likely be the last time they would see each other. Thal hopped Quen wouldn't get all sentimental on him when it came time to say goodbye. Goodbyes were hard enough without all the tears and hugging and what not.

"So, I take it your friend said it was alright if I stayed with her for a while?" Quen asked.

"As long as you behave yourself and study hard, she said you would be welcomed," he replied.

"What's she like?"

Thal was silent for a moment. There were many ways to describe Zany, but he didn't want to frighten her by saying she was a complete lunatic, which she was from time to time. As they neared the front porch of Zantasia's house, Thal decided to give her an answer.

"She's a person of multiple personalities," was his short but honest answer.

"What's that suppose to mean?" asked Quen as Thal knocked on the door.

Before Thal could elaborate any further, Zantasia opened the door and squealed in excitement. "You're here you're here you're here!" she chimed. She rushed out of the house and eagerly pushed them both inside. After forcing them to sit down, she rushed into the kitchen and brought out a tray with several cups of tea. She rushed back into the kitchen and Quen looked at Thal with a questioning wide eyed look. He just gave a sly smile and shrugged. Zantasia returned with another tray full of small cakes. Setting it next to the other tray on the table, she took a seat across from Quen. Thal picked up a cup of tea while Quen sat there awkwardly.

Zantasia's mood seemed to change in an instant. She went from beeing an over excited child to a polite adult. She looked Quen up and down with a critical eye. Every now and then her eyes would dart towards Thal, but only for an instant. She stuck out her hand towards Quen. "My name is Zantasia," she said. Quen tentatively shook her hand. "Please, help yourself to any of the refreshments."

Quen wasn't very hungry since she had just had a meal back at the inn, but not wanting to seem rude, she picked up a glass of tea and took a sip. "Thank you," replied Quen with a some what shaky smile. "My name is Quen'ala. Thank you very much for allowing me to stay with you for the time being."

"It's my pleasure! Now, child, tell me what you know about Inscription and being a scribe."

Quen glanced at Thal hoping to get a bit of help, but he was preoccupied with the little cakes Zantasia had brought out. Quen looked back at Zantasia and after taking another sip replied, "Uhm, I don't know anything about either of those things."

Instead of seeming sad of disappointed, Zantasia seemed excited. "Nothing at all?" she said with more than a little joy in her voice. Quen found this odd, but shook her head no none the less. "Then we'll have to begin with the very basics. Not to worry though, we won't start right away. I'm sure you'd like to get use to your surroundings. Come, let's take a tour of the house, shall we?"

All three of them stood and followed Zantasia into the kitchen. It was a very large room with one side being lined with counters and a stove. On the other side was a large table at which ten chairs were seated. Cabinets of all shapes and sizes were hung on the walls along with different utensils, some of which Quen didn't think were for cooking. From there they went into the study. It wasn't anywhere near as big as the kitchen, but all three of them fit comfortably inside of it. Several shelves lined the walls filled to the brim with books, the majority of which had to do with Inscription. There was a small couch in front of a window sitting in the middle of two bookshelves. In the basement was where Zantasia, and someday soon Quen, did all of her Scribe work. There was a desk in the middle of the mahogany room with papers and inks spread out all over it. There were many bookshelves down here as well, maybe even more than were in the library. Finally, Zantasia showed Quen where the restroom was and then led her and Thal upstairs to where the bedrooms were. Once they reached the top of the steps, Zantasia opened the door to their immediate right and walked in.

"And this is your room," she explained.

The walls were bare and painted a dull white color. There was a small twin bed next to the farthest wall and a window right next to that. An oak dresser that stood as tall as Quen was in the corner adjacent to the bed and there was a small vanity table across from that. It was a simple room, but Quen liked it none the less.

"I've left most of the room bare so you could add your own personal touches to it when you get time. There are also a few simple dresses in the dresser. They're too small for me, but they might fit you. We'll go get you some things tomorrow if you'd like."

"That would be very nice, thank you," Quen said putting her things down by the bed. "Am I going to be aloud to continue my mage training here as well?"

"Of course! What you do in your free time is entirely up to you. I'm sure you haven't been given a proper tour of the city," she glared at Thal while saying this and he gave her a shrug, "so we can do that later in the week as well if you'd like." Seeing that the sun was starting to get lower in the sky through the window, Zantasia excused herself to prepare dinner. She invited Thal to eat with them, but he declined. It would only prolong their goodbye. Zantasia was fine with this and said goodbye to Thal before heading downstairs to cook.

"Her food isn't going to kill me, is it?" Quen asked once she was sure Zantasia was out of ear shot. Thal chuckled and shook his head. "So... when do you plan on leaving?"

"Once we get done saying goodbye," he replied.

Quen let out a halfhearted chuckle. "Thanks for everything you've done for me, Thal. Without you, I'd probably be dead now." Her voice lost it's somber tone. "I'm really going to miss you."

Thal aloud a small smile to form on his face. "I'm going to miss you as well. I promise once I get some free time I'll come back and visit, alright?"

"Promise?" she felt like a small child saying this, but at this point she really didn't care. She was trying not to cry and the idea of seeing him again, the only parental figure she had ever had in her life, was keeping the tears at bay if only for now.

"Promise," he said making a cross sign over his heart. Quen smiled and gave him a hug. This time he was ready for it and hugged her back. They parted and Quen saw him to the door. Before she knew it, he had walked out of the house and she was in the kitchen helping Zantasia cook dinner. Quen was still weary of Zany because she hadn't totally figured her out and probably never would, but dinner was pleasant none the less. She helped Zany clean up and then went to get ready for bed.

Zantasia made sure she was all settled in before leaving her alone to finish up some work for the night. Quen sat on her bed for a while with her knees to her chest just staring at the hem of the black nightgown Thal had made her. Looking at her name sewn in on the hem made her feel sad and confused at the same time. She felt like the name sewn there really didn't belong to her. Looking at it now, it seemed so foreign to her even though she had been called by it all her life. Then looking at the rest of the nightgown made her think of Thal. Seeing him leave this evening had caused her more pain than anything in her life. She felt like he was abandoning her there when she knew he wasn't. When she had first started to warm up to him she felt like she had found a part of herself. It was so strange. Why should he make her feel this way? Of course she cared for him, but like a friend or a family member. Eventually the events of the day and the immense sadness she was feeling came crashing down on her and she ended up crying herself to sleep.

* * *

**I'm not going to lie. I deliberately put off writting this chapter. I couldn't really get into it. I tried approaching it several different ways and this was the one that sucked the least. Not one of my favorite chapters, though. I'm not really good with the emotional stuff... Anyway, sorry for the long wait. I tried to make it longer, but I totally fail on the length front. Hope you guys like it! Getting close to the end now!**


	17. Mistakes

**Chapter 16: **Mistakes

**Disclaimer: **Its Blizzard's Sandbox. I'm just playing in it. (And I Enjoy playing in it!)

* * *

It had been three months since I came to live with Zany and I have to admit, it hasn't been all that bad. Actually, I really like it here. Zany gives me free reign after I complete my daily inscribing lesson and chores. I usually go spend the day in the inn with Jovia. She's become my best friend. We have a lot in common, but it's our differences that really make us close. When I'm not with her, I'm either training or gathering herbs in the forest. Usually it's the latter, since Zany keeps the house pretty stocked up when it comes to herbs. I've gotten much stronger in the past months and I've even decided to specialize in Frost. Just like Zany, I like a good challenge.

The first week was probably the hardest on me. I missed Thal more than I thought I would. I hardly ate anything unless Zany forced me to. I spent most of my time in my room sulking and sleeping. Then Jovia showed up one day unexpectedly. I really didn't want to talk to her just then, but she's very stubborn. She sat down on my bed and we just sat there in silence for a while. Then she told me the story about how she had lost her mother and father in Northrend. They hadn't been killed by the Lich King or anything. It was just a freak accident in the Storm Peaks. They were just out questing when all of a sudden an avalanche came crashing down upon them. They didn't have time to flee or anything. A few days later, Jovia was sent to live with her uncle. It took them both a while to get over it, but when Jovia reflected on it years later, she realized having someone to grieve with her made things easier, which was why she was there; to help me grieve.

Her presence did seem to help. She started to make me smile and then laugh. She kept me focused on the now and eventually I could think about Thal and not get upset. Zany helped a lot by giving me loads upon loads of work to do which kept my mind off of him. After a few weeks I was back to my old self.

I had already finished my chores and scribe lesson for today, so I was outside the city gates sitting in one of the large trees. Fall was coming to the Eversong Woods, but since the leaves were already a beautiful golden red color, they weren't changing. The only thing that indicated fall was coming at all was the slight chill in the breeze. While normally I would wear the robe Thal had made for me, I didn't want it to rip on accident while climbing into my tree. That's why I was wearing a white long sleeved wool shirt with tan wool pants. While the material could be itchy, it kept me quite warm.

I fetched a mirror from the small pouch I always carried around with me. My hair had turned green again and my eyes that moon blue. So far, no one knew that my hair changed as it did. I had learned that the more magic I used the quicker the potion burned out. If I used a very minimal amount of magic, I could keep my hair brown for about a week. It was hard though because I loved to use magic. A day didn't go by that I didn't use at least one spell.

I had gone back to Thunderbluff to see Torn and his family. They were all doing extremely well and Torn was happier than I've ever seen him. While I was there, I told Margarine what I had discovered about the potion and asked if she could make it stronger some how. She gave it several attempts, but none of them worked. I was disappointed to say the least. She gave me a large supply of the original ones and I thanked her by giving her and the others a few glyphs I had made. It was hard hiding the potions from Zany, but thanks to an invisibility spell I learned I was able to do it. I either gave the empty vials to Jovia or sold them at the market for a small price.

With a sigh, I put the mirror back in the bag. It was near noon, which was the time I normally paid Jovia a visit. I grabbed a feather from my pack and enchanted it with a slow fall spell. Sticking it in my hair, I jumped from the tree with my pack in hand and made my way back into the city. As soon as I passed through the gates I could tell there was a traveler at the inn. They had their mount tied up outside. I pondered if I should visit Jovia later since she might be busy, but then decided against it. It's not like that had ever stopped me before.

As I got closer to the inn, I realized the mount tied up at the post was a Deathcharger. My heart skipped a beat. I mentally shook my head and shot down any foolish hope that it could be Thal's mount. Every Death Knight had a Deathcharger. There were millions of Death Knights in the world and that mount could belong to any one of them. No need to get myself worked up only to be disappointed. It took everything I had not to hope and pray that it was Thal keeping good on his promise to come visit. When the entrance was only a few steps away, I couldn't help myself. I walked up to the Deathcharger and took a look at it to see if I would recognize anything strapped to it as belonging to Thal.

Before I could get any closer, the horse turned to look at me. It's nostrils flared a bit as it took in my scent. It tried to turn it's whole body towards me, but it was tied up at the post. It made a small whinnying sound and looked at me. There was almost no doubt in my mind.

"Brusha?" I asked taking a step forward and placing my hand on it's nose. She affectionately rubbed my hand with her snout. "It is you...!" If Brusha was tied up here then could that mean Thal was inside the inn?

I rushed into the inn a little too eagerly. I looked around for Thal but neither him nor Jovia were there.

"Jovia? Jovia are you here?"

She came around the corner carrying a glass of water and wearing a smile. Nothing out of the ordinary there. "What's up?" My excitement must have been rolling off me in waves since she picked up on it not a moment later. "Whoa, where's the party?"

"Is Thal here?" I asked. She gave me a look.

"Uh, no... Why?" she said, sitting her glass of water down on a table.

"Because his mount is tied up outside so I thought he might be in here."

"A Deathcharger? Quen, every Death Knight owns one of those. It could-"

"No! It's his, I know it! She recognized me, Jovia!"

"Who?"

"Brusha, Thal's mount. I'm positive it's her. Come look!"

I dragged her outside and showed her where Brusha was tied up. She looked at me skeptically. I rolled my eyes a bit and called out Brusha's name. She turned to look at me and snorted. I turned back to Jovia and gave her an 'I told you so' look.

"Okay, you were right. But he's not in the inn. Maybe he went to see Zany?"

Brusha snorted and shook her head back and forth. Obviously he hadn't gone to see Zany.

"Then where is he, Brusha?" I asked.

The horse gestured towards the gates with her head. Both Jovia and I turned to see a familiar figure with all too perfect blue hair disappear out the front gates. I almost squealed in excitement. I grabbed Jovia's hands and bounced on the ball of my heel while saying, "I told you so, I told you so!" I dropped her hands and dashed after him.

"Quen, wait!" I heard Jovia shout after me. Thal had come back to visit and she wanted me to wait? No thank you!

* * *

As she jogged to catch up with him she tried to find her voice to call out, but her voice seemed to have been buried by her earlier excitement. She paid it no mind. Eventually, she would catch up with him. Quen rounded the corner and exited the city only to rush back into it and hide around the corner. Cautiously, she peaked back out to observe Thal. He had slowed down quite a bit and was cautiously looking around. It almost looked like he knew he was being followed. He did a complete check of the entire area before continuing on his way. Quen knew this was very odd behavior. It looked like he was searching for a hidden enemy or something. The thought was completely ridiculous, since they were in horde territory and near a major city. Quen knew it was wrong to snoop into the personal business of others, but she cast an invisibility spell on herself and followed him at a safe distance anyway.

She followed him all over Eversong Woods. She followed him past the flight master and her Dragon Hawks, south along the dead scar, over some hilly terrain and behind Farstrider Retreat where she almost lost him. South East from there they crossed the river near the troll infestation. Quen had to be extra careful not to make any noise there. She spent too much time crossing the river and lost him when he climbed into a small range of hills on the boarder of the Ghostlands. Quen had come to far to give up now. She was very curious as to why he was going to all this trouble. Refreshing her invisibility spell, she climbed into the hills after him.

After climbing around for what seemed like ages and getting nowhere, she was about to give up. Surely he had continued on his way and was long gone by now. Sighing in frustration, Quen started to make her way back home when she heard voices. She couldn't make out the words they were saying, but she recognized the tones. They seemed to be coming from inside the hills themselves. She carefully and quietly made her way towards the voices. She stopped next to a tree when they became the loudest she had heard them. Carefully, she made her way up into the tree and settled to be a quiet observer.

Her cover was almost blown then and there because what she saw almost made her fall right out of the tree. There was a flat hollow section right in the middle of the surrounding hills, perfect for a secret meeting place. That's exactly what this was too; a secret meeting place for Thal and this hooded stranger. What were they doing? She almost fell out of the tree a second time when the stranger and Thal embraced. It wasn't a friendly embrace either, rather the way one lover would hold another. Was this Thal's wife? If so, why would they need to meet in secret? What if this was his mistress! Was Thal cheating on his wife?

They let go of each other and the stranger lowered her hood. It was a pale skinned Blood Elf with shoulder length brown hair. She had the normal green eyes every Blood Elf, besides Quen herself, shared. Everything about her seemed to be normal, but something about this whole situation seemed strange to Quen.

"Were you followed?" the female Blood Elf asked. Her voice was deeper than a female Blood Elf's should be. Quen recognized this voice. She had heard it before on their voyage to the Undercity on the night she followed Thal through the Zeppelin.

"I managed to shake who ever was following me off my trail," he replied. The woman was about to speak again, but Thal interrupted. "Could you please remove that disguise? You know it unnerves me."

The woman gave a slight chuckle before she literally started to morph into another being. Quen's eyes widened in disbelief. Was Thal collaborating with Demons? No, the woman kept her womanly aspects but began to grown taller. Her hair seemed to find it's way into a pony tail and her skin began to turn a slight shade of blue. Her ears grew a bit in length and strange blade like tattoos appeared on her eyes. What shocked Quen most of all though, was the emerald green color her hair turned and the striking white-blue light that radiated from her eyes. Quen wanted to scream, but fear had a hold of her voice for the moment. Thal wasn't collaborating with demons, nor did he have a mistress. He was working with a member of the alliance.

"What is it you wanted to show me?" Thal asked.

The Night Elf turned her head away and reached into her robe. She retrieved a piece of parchment and handed it to Thal without looking at him. As Thal looked it over, his hands started to shake and his eyes took on a slight shimmer. He crumpled the parchment and tossed it away.

"I don't believe it," his voice was full of grief an doubt.

"I didn't want to either, but the evidence is so overwhelming," the Night Elf's pain mirrored Thal's. Quen could see the tears that managed to escape sliding down her cheeks.

"We've searched for 16 years and never found a trace of her, yet you're willing to believe she's dead because this piece of paper claims it!" The grief was still there, but anger was seeping in as well.

"I've seen the evidence, Thal! No one escaped that massacre alive and the odds are slim to none that by some miracle she did!" Something weird was happening with the Night Elf and Thal seemed to notice it too.

"Seth, calm down. We can discuss this in a orderly fashion. There's no need to get upset over it." Even as he said this, his hand was slowly moving towards something behind his back. Was he going to attack her?

Quen felt something crawling on her hand. She turned to look and saw a small, but still grouse, black spider making it's way up her arm. She tried not to freak out, she really did. She blew on it, to afraid that if she moved her presence would be discovered. The wind didn't stop the spider at all and it continued making it's way up her arm. At that moment, fear let go of her voice and she screamed, batting the spider away. Her invisibility spell was shattered by her scream and both Thal and Seth turned to look at her. Too late she realized what she had done. The tree stood there, seemingly frozen by time. When Seth turned her head and gave Thal a glance that said 'I thought you weren't followed?', Quen took that moment to cast a quick slow fall spell and jumped from the tree. Seth donned her cat form and raced after Quen, hoping to silence her before she found help.

"Seth, no!" cried Thal, but it was already too late.

* * *

**You know I'm bad, I'm bad! Really really bad! Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I love doing that! Also, sorry for the 2 week wait. There's only 2 weeks of school left and the teachers are packing it in thick, so I haven't had much time to write. I'm actually really proud of the way this chapter turned out and I think it's my all time fav. There are only two chapters left (if the epilouge counts as a chapter) so I hope you'll bear with me and read to the end. Thanks!**


	18. Together Again

**Chapter 17: **Together Again

**Disclaimer: **Do not profit, yada yada yada...

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I was out of there so fast I'm surprised either of them had time to register I was actually there. Well, after they'd seen me already, anyway. I probably shouldn't have used slow fall to get out of that tree and off the hillside either. There's a reason it's called Slow Fall. It's really really _really _slow. I looked back over my shoulder and noticed Seth, the cat who I recognized from Ashenvale, was already half way down the hill. It all made sense to me why she hadn't attacked back in the forest. She must have smelt Thal's scent on my hair pin and hesitated just long enough for him to show up. Guess she had other things on her mind now, though. As soon as I landed I blinked to put a little more distance between me and her. I took off as fast as my legs would carry me.

Unfortunately, she was a slight bit faster than I was. I bounded across the river and turned around. She was already on the other side getting ready to spring at me. I realized there was no way I would be able to outrun her. I had never had any sort of practice duel to ready me for this moment, nor had I ever run into a hostile and much stronger person of the opposite faction. My heart was beating a mile a minute and adrenaline pumped through my system. Usually in training I would have time to think over which spell I was going to use, even if it was only a few seconds. Seth wasn't about to give me that luxury. Using the water from the river, I summoned my water elemental to me and took my stance. Seth used that moment to spring.

She was unable to change her direction in mid air and I took that opportunity to roll to the side. As soon as she landed I commanded my water elemental to freeze her in place. To my shock and relief it actually worked. My minion and I began casting rapid fire Frostbolts. I threw in a few extra Ice Lances for good measure. Seth seemed a bit stunned, but broke free of the Frost Nova regardless. I turned and Blinked back across the river. My brain registered someone sitting on the sidelines, but I was more preoccupied with sending Arcane Missile at Seth who was bounding back over the river at me. She took a few right to the face, but kept right on coming. Before I had time to back off or freeze her again, she latched onto my arm using her sharp teeth to keep her hold. I screamed out in pain as she dragged me down onto my knees. I place my free hand on her head and heated it up, causing her to let go of my arm and recoil in pain. My blood flew through the space between us when her fangs were ripped from my flesh. The sight of my blood also on said fangs caused such a shock that I momentarily forgot the pain in my left arm. Without the use of my other arm, I no longer had a chance to win this. By the end of the day, I would most likely be dead.

* * *

Thal couldn't believe what he had just saw. When Seth had taken off after Quen, he didn't really know what to expect, but he thought she wouldn't hurt her. Obviously he had been wrong. Thal was almost as surprised as Quen had been. _'How could she do that!'_ Thal had thought after seeing Seth draw blood. _'She's just a child!'_ he had wanted to shout. But now he knew why. Seth wasn't seeing Quen as a child, or even someone Thal was friends with. She saw her as an adult mage who was a threat to their relationship. Thal had noticed it too. It had been a defenseless teenager he had been traveling with, but now it was a strong and some what skilled woman who was now fighting for her life. Seth had once told Thal that all threats must be delt with and eliminated and she wasn't about to make any exceptions. With her bum arm, Quen didn't stand much of a chance. If Thal wanted to save Quen's life he would have to do something fast. But what?

The two had gone at it again after recovering from their momentary shock. Quen had frozen Seth once more, but Thal could see the spell was less powerful than before and her Frostbolts were taking longer to cast. Seth broke free and took out Quen's water elemental. Quen wouldn't be able to call for another one because of her injury. Seth turned and jumped towards Quen. Quen fell backwards, but was able to put up an Ice Block just in the nick of time. Seth began clawing at it and tearing at it with her fangs, but even that was useless. She shape shifted into her bear form and began pounding on it with her front claws, but even brute strength wasn't enough to shatter it. She shifted to her natural form and grabbed the staff from her back. She raised it above her head and drove it into the ice, making a small indentation. As she prepared to strike for a second time, Thal noticed something strange about Quen.

While her face seemed strangely calm for someone who was seconds away from being impaled, it was her hair that grabbed Thal's attention. Through the ice it seemed to take on a greenish tint. Could the sun be reflecting off the ice, causing it to distort the color of her hair? No, that couldn't be it. Had she died her hair? No, it didn't look like that when he had seen her in the tree back in the hills. So why was it green? Why why why... Then it hit him. Green hair with ashen skin. _Green_ hair with _ashen_ skin! It was her! There was no mistaking it now. How had he been so blind? It was her! It was Ashenta! Just as this thought registered in his mind, Seth shattered the ice surrounding Quen.

* * *

Ya know, I don't know why, but for some reason I've been blessed with this gift for escaping from death by the skin of my teeth. Seriously, this makes it the second time that Seth has tried to kill me and for some reason stopped before she did. After she broke through my ice, and by then I had resigned myself to death, she plunged the bottom of her staff down towards my neck and then right before I'm skewered she stopped. I must have looked stupid laying there on my back with my eyes closed ready to die. When I heard her draw in a sharp breath, I opened my eyes. If it was possible, her eyes became even wider than they already were. She tossed her staff to the side and stumbled back a few steps. When she was no longer on top of me, she fell to her knees. Then, get this, she actually started crying. Just straight up crying for no reason. No sound came from her mouth, but tears ran like a river down her cheeks. I heard heavy footsteps approaching from my right. I looked up and saw Thal running towards us. Had he been standing there the whole time?

He ran over to Seth and embraced her, never taking his eyes off me. I had never seen much emotion in Thal's face, but I saw so many pass through his eyes that moment that I was almost sure he was a totally different person. Maybe he was. I realized there was so much we hadn't known about each other that we almost seemed like strangers. Then things got kinda scary because Thal started to cry, too. I mean, waterfall tears and everything.

I painfully shifted so I was sitting more comfortably. I ripped some cloth from my robe and tied it around the wound on my hand. I knew no first aid what so ever, but I needed to stop the bleeding. When I looked down to wrap it around my arm, my hair fell in my eyes and I absently pushed it back behind my ear. Then I realized what they were staring at. Slowly, oh ever so slowly, I grabbed a lock of my hair and looked at it. Green. Pure emerald green. My eyes were more than likely glowing a moon blue color, too. Horrified, I looked to Seth and Thal. The cat was out of the bag now. Seth glanced from my wound back to me. She slowly moved her fisted hand away from her chest and opened it towards me. I leaned back, unsure of what she was going to do. Then her hand began to glow a forest green color.

"May I?" she asked. Her voice was barely above a whisper. Cautiously, I nodded. She scooted away from Thal and towards me. She pushed the sleeve of my robe up past my elbow so she could get a better look at the wound. Even I hadn't realized how bad it was till I saw it. There were two very visible puncture wounds and if you angled my arm just right, you could see a bit of bone. I almost threw up at the sight of the ripped flesh and blood. Seth's mouth flew to her hand as she let out a sob and the tears started again.

"I'm so, so sorry." she said. She sounded more than sincere. She placed her other hand over my arm and the green glow enveloped it. I felt my arm become numb and I saw the flesh regrow and mend itself. When she was finished, I was left with a tingling sensation in my arm. I looked at my arm for a moment. Then I looked at Seth.

"Why?" I asked. Then I realized something. Her eyes were a moon blue color and she had green hair. Emerald green hair... There was no way.. Impossible! But it wasn't. I knew. I knew why now. She looked to Thal for confirmation and he nodded.

"Quen," Thal spoke first, but that was all he could say.

I gulped and took in a shaky breath. The odds of this actually happening were like, one in a million. Maybe even less than that. I didn't want to believe it, but it explained so much. The dream I had had about Thal being called a traitor along with me, why my eyes and hair changed color, why the academy wanted to cover it up, and why I bonded with Thal so easily. I heard somewhere that a baby forms relationships with it's parents while it's still in the womb and can even recognize their voices. It explained so much and yet so little as well.

Seth placed both of her hands on the side of my head and made me look at her. I didn't want to believe it, but I did. Everything in my entire being was screaming, "It's them! It's them!". Seth pulled me into a hug and started apologizing like crazy and saying stuff like, "My baby!", "You're alive!" and "We've found you." I hugged her back, still so confused on the inside, but accepting it for now and putting my questions aside. Sometime later, Thal joined in the hug fest. I had finally found my parents and they had found me. So like, what now?

* * *

There were many questions after that, all of which were answered. I'll just give you the short version. First of all, my real name is Ashenta Thaladona. It was hard to get use to after being callled Quen'ala all my life. Seth and Thal told me about how we had lived in Hyjal until our house was burnt down and I was kidnapped by the Twilight's Hammer. They searched for me high and low for seventeen years, questioning every cultist they got their hands on and searching through every camp they came across. Every now and then they would meet up and share their findings, which is what I had overheard them doing on the blimp that one night. Seth had found my files, and they said I was still alive. With Thal taking me to Silvermoon, he couldn't search for anything so Seth was on her own for the time being. What I had seen them doing in the hills was arguing over new papers Seth had found claiming I'd been killed in a raid, which we now knew was untrue. I also learned I was born during the Summer Fire Festival. Until then, I had always celebrated my birthday on New Years since I was never told when my birthday really was. I also learned how Seth and Thal met, which I thought was pretty cool. Unfortunately, we couldn't return to our home in Hyjal. So where did we move to, you ask?

NAGRAND! The home of Takbuks, Cleffhoofs, and The Throne of Elements! There's this really large floating island just above the lake near The Throne of Elements where Thal, with the help of my uncle Cyonic (I learned I had an aunt and an uncle, along with a few friends of the family), built a really nice two story house with a large barn where Mom keeps all her mounts. Well, most of them, anyway. She has so many of them that only the small ones like Talbuks, Cats, and Brusha could stay. All the other ones were either kept at Telaar or flew around whenever Mom wasn't using them. Luckily my Aunt Kay was a mage so I was able to continue my training and Seth and Thal always sparred with me when I was bored. Zanny comes to visit every now and then along with Jovia to make sure I kept up with my Scribe training. Seth taught me all about First Aid and Thal even tried to teach me how to make clothes, but I was admittedly no good at it.

Deathwing and the Twilight's Hammer were wiped out a few months ago. My family and I are living peaceful lives in Nagrand and not a day goes by where I don't think about how happy I am. None of us believe this peace can last, but we hope for the day when we won't have to live in secret anymore. Until that day comes, you can find us here where we'll always be together.

* * *

**So, I decided to smash the prologue and the final chapter all into one chapter cuz it would have turned out as 2 short chapters if I hadn't. It's better this way, I think. So what'd ya think! Like it? Hate it? Let me know! If you have questions, don't be afraid to ask! That wraps up this story, folks. It was a wonderful ride. Thanks to all the kind people who have left reviews and thanks to all who have favorited or alerted this story. You guys have given me the inspiration to finish this. Have a happy summer, all!**

**Till Next Time!**

**~Viv**


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